/^ 


B^-0 


THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 

OF  CALIFORNIA 

LOS  ANGELES 


PERSONAL 

REMIWSCENCES  AND  RECOLLECTIONS 

OF 

FORTY-SIX  YEARS'  MEMBERSHIP 

IN   THE 

MEDICAL  SOCIETY  OF  THE  DISTRICT  OF  COLUMBIA, 


RESIDENCE  IN  THIS  CITY, 


BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCHES  OF  MANY  OF  THE 
DECEASED  MEMBERS. 


BY 

SAMUEL  C.  BUSEY,  M.D.,  LL.D., 

PRESIDENT  OF  THE  MEDICAL  SOCIETY  OF  THE  DISTRICT  OF  COLUMBIA,  1S77,  1S94  AND  1895, 
WASHINGTON    CITY,  D.  C. 


WASHINGTON,   D.   C, 
1895. 


Entered  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1895,  by 

SAMUEL  C.  BUSEY,  M.D.,  LL.D., 
In  the  Office  of  the  Librarian  of  Congress,  at  Washington. 


PHILADELPHIA  : 
DORNAN,    PRINTER. 


Biomedical 
Libnij 

nwB 


TO 

THE  MEDICAL  SOCIETY  OF  THE  DISTRICT  OF  COLUMBIA, 

Zb\5  IDolume 

IS    INSCRIBED     BY    THE 

AUTHOR. 


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795897 


PREFACE. 


In  the  preparation  of  these  memoirs  I  have  coutined  myself 
closely  to  facts  which  I  could  verify,  with  such  commeut  as 
seemed  reasonable  and  concisely  set  forth  my  own  convic- 
tions and  deductions.  In  some  instances  I  have  omitted 
incidents  of  doiibtfid  propriety,  which  could  not  be  estab- 
lished beyond  dispute,  and  would  have  been  of  no  special 
interest,  even  though  conclusively  proven.  I  have  but  in  a 
few  instances  relied  upon  my  memory  without  verification  by 
examination  of  records  or  the  oral  testimony  of  persons  who 
were  cognizant  of  the  circumstances  narrated  or  fact  asserted. 

In  the  delineations  of  character  of  the  dead  of  the  profes- 
sion I  have  endeavored  to  set  forth  vividly  the  dominant 
traits  of  each  person  in  such  manner  as  would  present  the 
individuality  so  strongly  as  would  distinctly  differentiate  each 
character,  whilst  at  the  same  time  making  each  picture  com- 
plete in  its  identity.  I  have  not,  however,  attempted  to 
"make  swans  by  stretching  the  necks  of  geese."  I  have 
omitted  reference  to  some  not  less  deserving,  and  confined 
my  character  delineations,  with  but  few  exceptions,  to  those 
personally  and  familiarly  known  to  me. 

I  have  omitted  many  incidents,  circumstances,  and  facts 
relating  to  the  history  of  the  profession  in  general,  because 
in  some  cases  the  history  was  too  voluminous  for  condensa- 
tion suitable  to  a  volume  of  this  character;  in  other  instances 


vi  PREFACE. 

the  data  at  my  command  were  insufficient  for  a  complete  and 
impartial  statement,  and  in  other  instances  would  have  pro- 
voked references  to  private  matters  that  could  not  concern 
the  public. 

I  have  not  attempted  to  write  an  autobiography,  but  tried 
to  limit  myself  to  such  personal  references  as  seemed  neces- 
sary to  set  forth  distinctly  and  definitely  incidents  and  cir- 
cumstances with  which  I  was  actively  associated.  I  am  free 
to  admit  that  the  chapters  relating  to  the  history  of  the  pro- 
fession and  the  ethical  procedures  will  clearly  point  to  the 
author  as  a  conspicuous  actor  in  many  of  the  events,  but  it  is 
unavoidably  so,  for  which  I  have  no  apology  to  offer,  and  am 
willing  to  accept  the  verdict  of  a  jury  of  ray  peers. 

In  conclusion,  I  desire  to  record  my  obligations  to  my 
friends,  Drs.  Samuel  S.  Adams,  G.  Wythe  Cook,  and 
Thomas  E.  McArdle,  for  their  aid  and  advice  in  the  prepa- 
ration of  this  volume. 

S.  C.  B. 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER    I. 

PAGE 

Introduction 17 

CHAPTER    II. 

Biograjihy  and  Reminiscences  of  My  Early  Life.  Beginning  of 
the  Study  of  Medicine.  Courses  of  Study  in  Philadelphia. 
Settlement  in  this  citv 20 


CHAPTER    III. 

Life  of  a  Student  of  Medicine  in  the  Private  Class  of  Prof.  George 
B.  Wood.  His  Fondness  for  Teaching.  Rigid  Discipline  of 
Students,  and  Requirements  for  Graduation.  Hard  Work 
and  No  Play.  Brief  Sketches  of  the  Hospital  Staff.  Faculty 
of  the  University  of  Pennsylvania.  Joseph  Warrington  and 
Others.     Some  Relics 31 

CHAPTER    IV. 

R.  K.  Stone.  His  Friendship  and  Generous  Conduct.  Begin- 
ning Practice.  Reminiscences  of  the  Beginning.  First 
Patients.  Condition  of  the  City.  Dr.  B.  Madam  Anne 
Royal.  Hazel's  Row.  Old  Mrs.  Cratty.  An  Oddity.  Other 
Noted  Personages.  Society.  Fashionable  Promenade,  1848- 
oS.  Pennsylvania  Avenue.  Beau  Hickman.  Felix  K.  Mc- 
Connell 54 

CHAPTER    V. 

American  Medical  Association.     Menu  of  Banquet.     Poem  by 

Holmes 07 


viii  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER    YI. 

PAGE 

Discontent  and  Want  of  Harmony  in  the  Profession.  Fees. 
Grievances.  Ethical  Disputes.  Arraignment  of  Members. 
Gautier  Placard.  Meeting  of  the  American  Medical  Asso- 
ciation in  1858.     The  Presidency 103 

CHAPTER    VII. 

Removal  to  the  Country.  Residence  at  Belvoir.  Return  to  the 
City.  Resumption  of  Professional  Life  in  this  City.  Co- 
lumbia Hospital  Dispensary.  Lectures  at  the  Hospital. 
Organization  of  the  Children's  Hospital  of  the  District  of 
Columbia Ill 

CHAPTER    YIII. 

The  Founders  of  the  Medical  Society  of  the  District  of  Co- 
lumbia Whom  I  Knew,  with  Some  References  to  Several 
Others 121 

CHAPTER    IX. 

Brief  Biographical  Sketches  of  those  Members  of  the  Society 
who  Lived  Seventy  Years  and  More,  Excepting  those  who 
were  Founders,  and  Several  Others  who  Died  or  Moved 
Away  before  I  Came  to  the  city 139 

CHAPTER    X. 

Incorporators  Named  in  Act  of  Revival  of  Charter  of  the  Med- 
ical Society  of  the  District  of  Columbia,  1838.  Forfeiture 
by  Failure  to  Elect  Officers  at  Annual  Meeting.  Sketches 
of  A.  McD.  Davis,  W.  B.  Magruder,  Thomas  Miller,  and 
N.  P.Causin 167 

CHAPTER    XL 

Brief  Biographical  Sketches  of  Members  not  Previously  Clas- 
sified, but  Selected  from  the  Xumerous  Dead,  Because  of 
Distinction :  John  M.  Snyder,  William  P.  Johnston,  Bene- 
dict Thompson,  William  B.  Drinkard,  William  Marbury, 
Francis  A.  Ashford,  Johnson  Eliot,  Charles  M.  Ford,  James 
E.  Morgan,  A.  Y.  P.  Garnet,  E.  Carroll  3Iorgan,  William 
Lee,  William  G.  Palmer 176 


CONTENTS.  ix 

CHAPTER    XII. 

PAGE 

The  lEstablisbment  of  a  General  Hospital  in  the  District  of 
Columbia.  Ewell's  Project.  Attempt  of  Board  of  Health.  • 
AVashington  Infirmary.  Providence  Hospital.  The  Central 
Dispensary  and  Emergency  Hospital.  General  Hospital  of 
the  District  of  Columbia,  Georgetown.  Freedmen's  Hos- 
pital.    Garfield  Memorial  Hospital 212 

CHAPTER    XIII. 

The  Disturbances  of  1869-72.  Admission  of  Physicians  of 
African  Descent  to  Membership  in  the  Medical  Society  of 
the  District  of  Columbia.  Attempt  to  Repeal  the  Charter 
of  the  Medical  Society  of  the  District  of  Columbia.  Appeal 
to  the  American  Medical  Association.  Final  Settlement  by 
the  Decisive  Action  of  the  American  Medical  Association 
at  Philadelphia  in  1872 245 

CHAPTER    XIV. 

Trial  and  Expulsion  of  Dr.  D.  "SV.  Bliss.  His  Re-instateraent. 
The  Admission  of  Dr.  C.  C.  Cox  to  the  Medical  Association 
of  the  District  of  Columbia 285 

CHAPTER    XV. 

Controversy  with  the  Board  of  Health 294 

CHAPTER    XVI. 

Revision  of  the  Rules  and  Regulations  and  Abrogation  of  the 
Local  Code  of  Ethics  of  the  Medical  Association  of  the  Dis- 
trict of  Columbia 301 

CHAPTER    XVII. 

The  Arraignment  of  Physicians  in  the  Government  Service  for 
Violations  of  the  Rules  and  Regulations  of  the  Medical 
Association  of  the  District  of  Columbia.  Prosecution  and 
Acquittal  of  Surgeon  J.  H.  Baxter.  Prosecution  and  Ac- 
quittal of  Surgeon  Basil  Norris.  Prosecution  and  Acquittal 
of  Dr.  A.  Y.  P.  Garnet.  Angry  Controversy.  Pi-evalent 
Bad  Temper.     Final  Settlement 317 


X  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER    XVIII. 

PAGE 

Medicine  in  the  District  of  Columbia  during  the  period  from 

1848-95 331 

CHAPTER    XIX. 

Bibliography  of  Contributions  to  Medical  Literature  by  Samuel 

C.  Busey,  M.D 354 


PERSONAL  REMmiSCENCES. 


CHAPTER   I. 


INTRODUCTION. 


DuEiNG  several  years  past  I  have  frequently  been  solicited 
by  the  agents  of  publishing-houses  to  furnish  a  brief  autobi- 
ography for  publication  in  some  cyclopedia,  either  in  course 
of  publication  or  prospective,  a  dictionary  of  medical  men  or 
other  publication.  I  have  always  refused  such  applications, 
and,  occasionally,  to  get  rid  of  the  mercenary  importunities,  had 
to  repeat  my  refusal  in  some  very  emphatic  manner.  During 
the  same  period,  and  very  recently,  many  personal  friends, 
members  of  the  Medical  Society  of  the  District  of  Columbia, 
and  others,  who  have  occasionally,  in  some  casual  conversa- 
tion, heard  me  narrate  circumstances  and  incidents  which  had 
come  under  my  personal  observation,  have  suggested  to  me 
the  propriety  of  recording,  in  some  permanent  form,  my 
reminiscences  and  recollections,  together  with  my  own  biog- 
raphy. Until  recently  I  have  dismissed  these  friendly  sug- 
gestions either  with  a  positive  or  quasi  refusal.  During  the 
year  1893  it  became  my  duty,  as  the  Chairman  of  the  Com- 
mittee of  Arrangements  of  the  Celebration  of  the  Seventy- 
fifth  Anniversary  of  the  Medical  Society  of  the  District  of 
Columbia,  to  study  the  history,  so  far  as  it  had  been  written 
and  published,  by  Dr.  Toner  and  others,  and  to  seek  informa- 
tion, orally  and  by  letters,  from  private  citizens  here  and 
elsewhere,  of  some  of  the  earlier  members  of  the  Society,  that 
I  might  intelligently  prepare  the  address  which  it  would  be 

2 


18  PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES. 

my  duty  to  deliver  at  the  Anniversary  Celebration.  I  was 
surprised  to  find  how  little  had  been  recorded  of  some  of  the 
most  distinguished  and  honored  dead,  and  how  much  infor- 
mation of  very  great  interest  could  be  obtained  with  very  little 
effort.  Animated  by  these  circumstances  and  facts,  and,  per- 
haps, flattered  by  the  renewed  suggestions  of  personal  friends, 
I  determined  to  undertake  the  task  after  the  celebration  of 
the  anniversary. 

At  first  it  was  my  purpose  to  collect  these  reminiscences 
and  recollections  in  the  form  of  an  annual  address,  to  be 
delivered  upon  my  retirement  from  the  presidency  of  the 
Society ;  but  as  I  proceeded  with  its  preparation  it  grew  into 
such  proportions  that  I  was  compelled  to  abandon  my  original 
intention.  The  present  volume  is,  therefore,  the  outgrowth 
of  an  unpretentious  beginning. 

Notwithstanding  the  abandonment  of  my  purpose  to  pre- 
pare an  annual  address,  I  have,  in  many  respects,  retained 
that  feature  which  characterizes  it  as  a  discourse  addressed  to 
the  Medical  Society,  because  it  gives  to  it  a  pleasant  person- 
ality, and  affords  me  the  opportunity  to  give  expression  to 
my  appreciation  of  a  body  of  colleagues  and  contemporaries 
which  has  so  often  honored  me  with  its  confidence  and  pro- 
fessional regard. 

The  privilege  which  has  come  to  me  cannot  come  to  many. 
Forty-seven  years  of  continuous  residence,  dated  from  birth,  in 
any  one  city  or  locality,  is  not  remarkable,  but  such  a  length 
of  residence  and  an  equal  number  of  years  of  continuous,  and 
the  seniority  of,  membership  in  a  medical  society  in  the  life- 
time of  any  man  would  seem  to  entitle  the  story  of  his  recol- 
lections and  reminiscences  to  some  historic  value.  Of  the  two 
hundred  and  fourteen  members  alive  in  January,  1894,  but 
three  had  passed  the  age  of  seventy,  and  but  thirteen  had 
reached  and  passed  the  age  of  sixty-five.  Of  the  dead  during 
the  seventy-five  years  of  existence  of  the  Medical  Society  of 
the  District  of  Columbia  but  twenty-eight  reached  and  passed 
the  age  of  three-score-and-ten.     It  seems  strange  to  me,  as  I 


PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES.  19 

record  these  statistics,  that  no  one  of  the  distinguished  dead, 
some  of  whom  enjoyed  a  much  longer  continuous  residence 
and  membership  than  I,  should  have  left  in  some  perma- 
nent form  the  memories  of  himself  and  contemporaries,  that 
we,  who  come  after,  might  have  had  the  histories  of  their 
honorable  lives.  Prior  to  1866  the  official  records  relate 
almost  exclusively  to  the  transaction  of  the  ordinary  routine 
business  and  to  questions  of  ethics.  In  1866  Dr.  J.  M. 
Toner  delivered  and  published  an  address  in  which  he  had 
collated  from  the  records,  newspapers,  and  other  sources  a  very 
complete  history  of  the  profession  from  the  early  settlement 
of  the  city  to  that  date,  but  even  such  a  diligent  and  pains- 
taking historian  failed  to  obtain  some  data  of  special  interest, 
which  I  am  permitted  to  incorporate  in  the  following  pages. 

The  address  delivered  by  Dr.  Toner,  September  26,  1866, 
is  a  history  of  the  medical  jjrofession  and  organizations  prior 
to  that  date.  I  will  refer  more  especially  to  the  personality 
of  the  profession,  and  seek  to  delineate  individual  character 
and  worth  rather  than  organized  eifort. 


CHAPTER   II. 

Biography  and  Reminiscences  of  My  Early  Life.    Beginning  the  Study  of 
Medicine.    Courses  of  Study  in  Philadelphia.    Settlement  in  this  City. 

The  past  has  been  an  eventful  year  in  the  history  of  this 
Society.  The  commemoration  of  its  Seventy-fifth  Anniver- 
sary on  the  16th  of  February,  1894,  marked  an  epoch  which 
will  be  held  in  lasting  remembrance  by  all  who  participated 
in  the  exercises  of  that  occasion. 

In  view  of  my  official  connection  with  that  event,  and  of 
forty-seven  years'  membership  in  this  Society,  it  has  seemed  to 
me  that  I  might  add  interest  to  and  enhance  the  historic  value 
of  some  of  the  incidents  of  that  successful  and  brilliant  cele- 
bration by  putting  upon  record  in  this  semi-official  manuer 
some  of  my  personal  recollections  and  experiences,  and  rem- 
iniscences of  prominent  members  of  the  early  years  of  this 
Society  whom  it  was  my  good  fortune  to  know. 

In  the  discharge  of  this  self-imposed  task  I  will  classify 
those  members  to  whom  I  may  refer  as  founders  whom  I 
knew,  as  members  who  lived  seventy  and  more  years,  and 
others  now  dead,  whose  prominence  in  this  Society  and  com- 
munity should  revive  and  hold  in  remembrance  the  recollec- 
tions of  their  honorable  lives.  There  will,  of  course,  be 
notable  exceptions — some  with  whom  I  did  not  have  a  per- 
sonal acquaintance  and  others  of  whom  it  would  be  unwise 
to  make  record  at  this  date. 

That  you  may  the  more  fully  appreciate  some  of  these 
reminiscences  it  is  necessary  that  I  preface  them  with  a  brief 
and  condensed  resume  of  the  successive  events  of  my  own 
early  life. 

I  was  born  and  resided  until  I  began  the  study  of  medicine 
on  a  farm  in  Montgomery  County,  Maryland,  about  one  and 


PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES.  21 

a  half  miles  back  of  the  forest,  east  of  Cabin  John  bridge. 
Georgetown,  the  nearest  post-office  and  trading-town,  was 
nine  miles  distant  by  the  way  the  road  ran.  My  father  died 
when  I  was  five  years  old.  When  a  very  small  boy  I  accom- 
panied my  mother  in  her  frequent  business  or  social  visits  to 
Georgetown,  and  later,  when  old  enough  to  be  trusted  alone 
on  horseback,  was  often  sent  to  the  town  for  such  purposes  as 
seemed  necessary.  In  this  way  I  became  quite  familiar  with 
the  names  and  faces  of  a  number  of  prominent  citizens  of  the 
town,  among  them  Drs,  Nicholas  Worthington,  Peregrine 
Warfield,  Benjamin  S.  Bohrer,  and  Hezekiah  Magruder. 
Occasionally  my  mother  would  extend  her  visits  to  this  city, 
usually  as  far  as  the  large  dry-goods  store  at  the  corner  of 
Ninth  Street  and  Pennsylvania  Avenue,  kept  by  Darius 
Clagett.  Drs.  Bohrer  and  Magruder  occasionally  made  visits 
to  the  farm  to  see  some  member  of  the  family ;  the  former, 
however,  was  the  attending  physician  of  my  mother  during  her 
last  illness.  About  one  year  after  her  death,  which  occurred 
on  the  day  James  K.  Polk  (1844)  was  nominated  at  Baltimore 
for  the  Presidency,  I  left  the  Academy  at  Rockville,  reluc- 
tantly relinquished  my  preference  for  the  farm  to  acquiesce  in 
the  wish  often  expressed  by  my  mother,  that  I  would  select 
the  profession  of  medicine,  and,  animated  by  the  desire  to  be 
in  more  convenient  proximity  to  a  young  lady  about  my  own 
age,  who  was  then  at  the  Seminary  in  Georgetown  kept  by 
Miss  English,  I  removed  to  Georgetown,  and  entered  the 
office  of  Dr.  Hezekiah  Magruder.  Cullen's  Treatise  of  the 
Materia  Medica,  3d  American  edition,  Philadelphia,  1808, 
and  somebody's  dissector,  probably  the  London,  republished 
in  Philadelphia  about  1820,  proved  to  be  tedious  and  doleful 
work  for  me  during  the  summer  of  1845,  and  had  it  not  been 
for  the  social  attraction  I  would  have  returned  to  the  farm  to 
drive  the  oxen  and  follow  the  plow. 

Soon  after  convalescence  from  the  narrative  of  Cullen's 
Treatise,  I  learned  of  the  existence  of  the  United  States  Dis- 
pensatory tlirough  the  kindness  of  a  friendly  drug-clerk  with 


22  PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES. 

whom  I  was  accustomed  to  while  away  an  hour  or  more  after 
the  horns  were  blown.  It  was  the  law  and  custom  in  that 
quiet  city  at  that  time  to  toot  tin  horns  at  10  o'clock  p.m. 
precisely,  to  frighten  the  free  negroes  to  their  places  of  abode 
and  to  warn  them  of  probable  arrest  aud  lock-up  for  the 
night  if  caught  on  the  street.  Not  infrequently  the  monotony 
of  that  ancient  city  was  disturbed  by  the  fierce  screaming  of 
some  belated  damsel  in  evening  attire,  but  more  frequently  by 
the  rapid  transit  on  foot  of  some  gay  Lothario  escaping  the 
pursuit  of  the  angry  watchman. 

I  find  in  the  chronicles  of  Georgetown  the  following  refer- 
ence to  an  "  ordinance  to  purchase  a  steel  triangle,  which  was 
swung  in  a  steeple  upon  the  town-house.  This  triangle  was 
used  to  triangulate  the  town  with  its  music  every  night  at 
10  o'clock.  It  carried  the  sound  of  time  through  the  town 
as  fast  as  the  magnetic  wires  carry  news  to  Baltimore ;  and 
when  the  town  ofiicer  commenced  triangulating  the  darkies 
would  move  off  in  parallel  lines  for  home  ;  but  sometimes 
they  would  come  in  contact  with  a  triangular  watchman,  who 
would  ensconce  them  in  the  watch-house  until  day.  The 
triangle  lasted  but  a  short  time,  on  account  of  the  laws  of 
gravitation  prevailing  here  (in  Georgetown)  and  elsewhere ; 
the  treacherous  cord  by  which  it  was  swung  gave  way  one 
night  while  the  system  of  triangulation  was  in  full  blast,  and 
the  triangle  leaped  through  the  steeple  on  the  roof  of  the 
house,  and  bouncing  from  there  to  the  ground  broke  up  into 
fragments.  That  ended  triangulation.  The  old  system  of 
blowing  tin  horns  at  10  o'clock  was  re-established,  and  the 
watchmen  were  ordered  to  cry  the  hour  to  time  the  citizens 
through  the  darkness  of  the  night." 

My  inchoate  studies  were  again  and  more  suddenly  inter- 
rupted by  the  revelation  that  women  in  health  were  afflicted 
with  an  indisposition  every  month.  This  episode  was  occa- 
sioned by  the  accidental  discovery  of  the  word  "  menses  "  in 
an  old  medical  dictionary,  the  pages  of  which  I  was  turniug 
over  in  search  of  relief  from  the  weary  tire  of  Cullen,     I  read 


PERSONAL  RE^IINISCENCES.  23 

and  re-read  the  definition  until  I  almost  imagined  I  either  had 
or  would  have  the  "  flowers  "  or  the  dreadful  "  reds."  The 
higgledy-piggledy  explanations  of  this  problem  of  mystery  and 
amazement  were  so  wretchedly  unsatisfactory,  cloudy,  and  awe- 
some that  I  yielded  in  despair  to  melancholy  reflections  over 
the  awful  surprises  in  store  for  me,  and  suffered  a  relapse  of 
love  for  the  farm  and  fields,  the  open  and  sunny  skies,  woods, 
brooks,  and  rambles  which  had  made  the  years  of  my  earlier 
youth  so  charming  and  attractive,  from  which  I  recovered 
after  a  week  or  more  sojourn  at  the  homestead,  then  tenanted 
by  a  senior  half-brother  and  the  good  old  colored  cook. 
Charity  Martin,  famous  in  memory  still  for  her  Maryland 
biscuit  and  Johnny  cake,  and  returned  to  renew  the  study  of 
the  revelations  of  human  phenomena  just  in  time  to  begin 
with  the  opening  lectures  at  the  National  Medical  College. 
My  preceptor  was  gifted,  or  not,  as  you  may  think,  with  such 
a  limited  vocabulary  and  conversational  capacity  that  he  could 
not  give  expression  to  the  charming  qualities  of  mind  and 
heart  which  had  made  him  a  popular  and  successful  practi- 
tioner of  medicine. 

To  utilize  fully  my  winter's  courses  of  practical  and  didactic 
anatomy  I  had  to  walk  once,  and  every  other  day  twice,  to 
and  from  my  lodgings  in  Georgetown  to  the  Infirmary,  located 
in  Judiciary  Square,  about  the  spot  now  desecrated  by  a  urinal 
embowered  with  shrubs  and  evergreens.  The  last  return  was 
late  at  night,  through  dark  and  dismal  streets,  with  compan- 
ions who  stopped  along  the  way  as  they  reached  their  homes. 
My  preceptor  was  delighted  with  my  progress,  and  when  I 
had  learned  to  read  and  understand  the  chemistry  and  thera- 
peusis  of  his  favorite  prescription  of  sub.  murias.  hydrarg.  and 
jpulv.  Dover i  I  was  profoundly  grateful,  and  began  to  feel  like 
"  a  poor  boy  at  a  frolic." 

I  learned  enough  during  my  ^vinter's  course  at  the  National 
Medical  College  to  know  that  private  pupilage  in  an  office  in 
Georgetown,  without  a  book  more  recent  than  1820,  and  with 
only  two  or  three  rusty  scalpels  and  a  pair  of  tooth  pulley- 


24  PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES. 

kins,  did  not  supply  the  opportunities  for  the  acquirement  of 
my  profession.  I  also  learned  much  of  the  standing  and 
reputation  of  men  with  some  of  whom  I  became  closely  asso- 
ciated in  after-life.  Among  these  were  Johnson  Eliot,  James 
C.  Hall,  Thomas  Miller,  Robert  King  Stone,  William  P. 
Johnston,  Harvey  Lindsly,  Grafton  Tyler,  and  Joshua  Riley. 
John  Frederick  May,  Professor  of  Surgery,  was  a  very  dex- 
terous operator,  a  brilliant  lecturer,  and  an  impressive  teacher. 
John  M.  Thomas  came  leisurely,  after  time,  to  his  lectures  on 
physiology,  which  were  brief,  polished,  and  unsatisfactory. 
He  was  always  neatly  dressed  in  the  latest  style,  dignified, 
polite,  but  very  reserved.  At  that  time  he  had  a  very  large 
business  among  the  better  class  of  citizens,  and  lived  sumptu- 
ously. Some  years  later  I  parted  with  him  in  front  of  John 
Foy's  saloon  about  one  hour  before  he  wrote  the  prescription 
which,  it  was  alleged,  killed  a  porter  at  Fuller's  Hotel,  and 
the  last  time  I  saw  him  he  was  struggling,  with  assistance,  to 
enter  a  carriage  to  respond  to  a  summons  to  see  Mrs.  Adams. 
During  the  winter  of  1815-46  I  studied  practical  anatomy, 
and  attended  the  lectures  on  anatomy  and  operative  surgery 
in  the  National  Medical  College  in  this  city.  In  1846  I  went 
to  Philadelphia  and  entered  the  office  of  the  late  George  B. 
Wood  as  a  private  pupil.  There  I  remained,  following  daily, 
except  during  lecture  seasons.  Wood,  Pepper,  or  Gerrard 
through  the  medical,  and  Peace,  Norris,  Randolph,  or  Fox 
the  surgical  wards  of  the  Pennsylvania  Hospital  ;  passed 
through  the  courses,  both  demonstrative  and  practical,  of  the 
Obstetric  Institute,  under  Joseph  Warrington  ;  attended  two 
courses  in  the  University  of  Pennsylvania,  and  received  my 
diploma  at  Musical  Fund  Hall  on  the  eighth  day  of  April, 
1848.  Then  I  returned  to  Georgetown  and  began  to  think  of 
and  inquire  about  places  for  permanent  settlement.  Finally, 
at  the  suggestion  of  my  frieud  and  classmate.  Dr.  W.  H, 
Saunders,  who  died  in  Nicaragua  during  the  last  and  disas- 
trous invasion  of  that  country  by  Walker,  the  freebooter, 
and,  not  entirely  free  from  the  hope  that  I  might  attain 


PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES. 


20 


success  without  going  too  far  away  from  the  young  lady  to 
whom  I  have  already  referred,  I  took  the  office  on  A  Street, 
S.  E.,  now  included  in  the  eastern  park  of  the  Capitol,  vacated 
by  Dr.  Francis  M.  Gunnell,  who  had  a  week  before  passed 
the  Medical  Examining  Board  for  the  Navy,  at  the  head  of 
the  list,  and  took  my  meals  at  a  boarding-house  kept  by  Mrs. 
Sprigg,  occupying  a  seat  at  the  table  nearly  opposite  Abraham 
Lincoln,  whom  I  soon  learned  to  know  and  admire  for  his  sim- 
ple and  unostentatious  manners,  kind-heartedness,  and  amusing 
jokes,  anecdotes,  and  witticisms.  When  about  to  tell  an  anec- 
dote during  a  meal  he  would  lay  down  his  knife  and  fork, 
place  his  elbows  upon  the  table,  rest  his  face  between  his  hands, 
and  begin  with  the  words  "  that  reminds  me,"  and  proceed. 
Everybody  prepared  for  the  explosions  sure  to  follow.  I 
recall  with  vivid  pleasure  the  scene  of  merriment  at  the  din- 
ner after  his  first  speech  in  the  House  of  Representatives, 
occasioned  by  the  descriptions,  by  himself  and  others  of  the 
Congressional  mess,  of  the  uproar  in  the  House  during  its 
delivery. 

I  had  not  attached  any  importance,  and  had  rarely  referred 
to  the  fact  of  having  boarded  in  the  same  house  with  Mr. 
Lincoln  until  I  read  a  statement  in  one  of  the  daily  papers 
to  the  effect  that  a  diligent  search  made  by  the  Memorial 
Association  of  the  District  of  Columbia  had  failed  to  locate 
the  house  in  wdiich  he  had  resided  during  his  service  in  Con- 
gress; and,  more  recently,  having  declined  an  invitation  to 
make  an  address  at  the  memorial  meeting,  held  April  14, 
1894,  the  twenty-ninth  anniversary  of  his  death,  in  which  I 
was  requested  to  set  forth  such  facts,  circumstances,  and  rem- 
iniscences of  Congressman  Lincoln  as  I  might'  recall,  it  has 
seemed  not  only  eminently  proper,  but  incumbent  upon  me 
to  comply  so  far  with  tliat  request  as  to  record  in  some  per- 
manent form  the  brief  details  of  that  association. 

The  house  was  the  fourth  of  a  row  of  houses  known  as 
*'  Carroll  Row,"  situated  on  the  east  side  of  First  Street, 
E.,  between  A  Street,  S.,  and  East  Capitol  Street,  the  south 


26  PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES. 

house  of  the  row  being  at  the  corner  of  First  and  A  Streets,  S. 
The  location  is  now  better  known  as  the  west  front  of  one 
of  the  squares  (729)  upon  which  the  new  Library  building  is 
being  built.  The  corner  house ^  was  occupied  by  Gen.  Duff 
Green  and  family,  who  took  their  meals  at  the  Sprigg  board- 
ing-house, the  next  by  William  I.  McCormick  and  family, 
and  the  third  by  John  H.  Houston  and  family.  The  two 
houses  north  of  the  Sprigg  house  were  boarding-houses,  then 
a  stonecutter's  yard,  and  the  three-story  brick  house  at  the 
corner  of  First  Street,  E.,  and  East  Capitol  Street,  with  a 
shop  on  the  ground  floor  and  dwelling  above  occupied  by  the 
stonecutter,  completed  the  west  front  of  the  square. 

There  was  a  large  number  of  boarders  at  the  Sprigg  house, 
among  whom  may  be  named,  besides  Mr.  Lincoln,  Messrs. 
Mcllvaine,  Dick,  Blanchard,  and  Pollock,  members  of  the 
House  of  Representatives  from  Pennsylvania,  and  Thompkins, 
M.  C,  from  Mississippi,  the  Green  family,  Nathan  Sargent — 
better  known  as  "Oliver  Oldschool" — Edmund  French,  a 
private  citizen,  and  myself.  All  the  members  of  the  House 
of  Representatives  were  Whigs.  The  WiJmot  Proviso  was 
the  topic  of  frequent  conversation  and  tlie  occasion  of  very 
many  angry  controversies.  Dick,  who  represented  the  Lan- 
caster district  in  Pennsylvania,  afterward  represented  by 
Thaddeus  Stevens,  was  a  very  offensive  man  in  manner  and 
conversation,  and  seemed  to  take  special  pleasure  in  ventilat- 
ing his  opinions  and  provoking  unpleasant  discussions  with 
the  Democrats  and  some  of  the  Whigs,  especially  Thompkins, 
who  held  adverse  opinions  on  the  Wilmot  Proviso.  Nathan 
Sargent  was  also  a  radical,  but  was  so  interested  in  the  success 
of  the  Whigs  and  the  election  of  Zachary  Taylor  that  he 
restrained  himself  and  followed  Mr.  Lincoln,  who  may  have 
been  as  radical  as  either  of  these  gentlemen,  but  was  so  dis- 
creet in  giving  expression  to  his  convictions  on  the  slavery 

1  The  house  occupied  by  Gen.  Ross  and  Admiral  Cockburn  as  headquarters  during 
August,  1814,  after  the  capture  of  the  citj'  by  the  British. 


PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES.  27 

question  as  to  avoid  giving  offence  to  anybody,  and  was  so 
conciliatory  as  to  create  the  impression,  even  among  the  pro- 
slavery  advocates,  that  he  did  not  wish  to  introduce  or  discuss 
subjects  that  would  provoke  a  controversy.  AVhen  such  con- 
versation would  threaten  angry  or  even  unpleasant  contention 
he  would  interrupt  it  by  interposing  some  anecdote,  thus  divert- 
ing it  into  a  hearty  and  general  laugh,  and  so  completely  dis- 
arrange the  tenor  of  the  discussion  that  the  parties  engaged 
would  either  separate  in  good  humor  or  continue  conversation 
free  from  discord.  This  amicable  disposition  made  him  very 
popular  with  the  household. 

Congressman  Lincoln  was  very  fond  of  bowling,  and  would 
frequently  join  others  of  the  mess,  or  meet  other  members  in 
a  match  game,  at  the  alley  of  James  Casparis,  which  was  near 
the  boarding-house.  He  was  a  very  awkward  bowler,  but 
played  the  game  with  great  zest  and  spirit,  solely  for  exercise 
and  amusement,  and  greatly  to  the  enjoyment  and  entertain- 
ment of  the  other  players  and  bystanders  by  his  criticisms 
and  funny  illustrations.  He  accepted  success  and  defeat  with 
like  good  nature  and  humor,  and  left  the  alley  at  the  conclu- 
sion of  the  game  without  a  sorrow  or  disappointment.  When 
it  was  known  that  he  was  in  the  alley  there  would  assemble 
numbers  of  people  to  witness  the  fun  which  was  anticipated 
by  those  who  knew  of  his  fund  of  anecdotes  and  jokes. 
When  in  the  alley,  surrounded  by  a  crowd  of  eager  listeners, 
he  indulged  with  great  freedom  in  the  sport  of  narrative,  some 
of  which  were  very  broad.  His  witticisms  seemed  for  the 
most  part  to  be  impromptu,  but  he  always  told  the  anecdotes 
and  jokes  as  if  he  wished  to  convey  the  impression  that  he 
had  heard  them  from  some  one ;  but  they  appeared  very  many 
times  as  if  they  had  been  made  for  the  immediate  occasion. 

Congressman  Lincoln  was  always  neatly  but  very  plainly 
dressed,  very  simple  and  approachable  in  manner,  and  unpre- 
tentious. He  attended  to  his  business,  going  promptly  to  the 
House  and  remaining  till  the  session  adjourned,  and  appeared 
to  be  familiar  with  the  progress  of  legislation. 


28  PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES. 

During  that  session  Mrs.  Lincoln,  with  the  eldest  son,  was 
at  the  house  for  a  time,  but  was  so  retiring  that  she  was  rarely 
seen  except  at  the  meals.  Robert  was  a  bright  boy,  about 
four  years  old,  and  seemed  to  have  his  own  way.  If  there 
were  any  other  children,  I  do  not  recall  the  fact.  During  the 
short  session  of  that  Congress  Mr.  Lincoln  lived  down  town, 
where  I  do  not  now  remember. 

The  stonecutter's  yard  was  occupied  with  the  preparation 
of  the  cenotaphs  to  deceased  members  of  Congress,  which  may 
now  be  seen  arranged  in  rows  in  the  Congressional  Cemetery. 
Each  consists  of  a  block  of  free-stone  two  and  one-half  feet 
square,  upon  a  double  base,  and  crowned  with  an  oval  cap- 
stone. They  are  inscribed  on  one  side,  as,  for  instance,  "  In 
memory  of  the  Hon.  Gabriel  Holmes,  a  Representative  in  the 
Congress  of  the  United  States  from  the  State  of  North  Caro- 
lina, who  died  in  the  recess  of  Congress  in  1829."  Some- 
times the  Congress  is  named,  as,  Thirty-fifth,  or,  First  Ses- 
sion, Thirty-sixth,  and  occasionally  on  the  reverse  side  are 
inscribed  some  details  of  death,  as,  for  instance,  on  the  ceno- 
taph to  the  memory  of  the  Hon.  George  S.  Kinard,  the 
inscription  is  as  follows  :  ''  His  death  was  occasioned  by  the 
explosion  of  the  boiler  of  a  steamboat  on  his  journey  to  his 
seat  in  Congress."  At  that  time,  and  for  some  indefinite 
previous  period,  the  Government,  either  by  custom  or  law, 
provided  for  the  erection  of  these  cenotaphs  to  dead  members 
and  Senators,  whether  the  death  occurred  or  not  in  this  city, 
during  the  session  or  recess,  or  at  home  or  on  the  journey  to 
this  city.  It  was  a  commemorative  testimonial  more  profit- 
able to  the  stonecutter  than  complimentary  to  the  deceased 
statesman.  The  honored  custom  was  discontinued  in  1877, 
for  the  reasons  that  too  many  members  were  dying,  it  was  a 
useless  extravagance  for  an  economical  government,  and  a 
waste  of  burial  space. 

During  my  second  course  at  the  University,  session  of 
1847-48,  I  presided  at  the  class  meetings  for  consideration  of 
the  proposition  to  have  painted  the  portrait  of  Prof.  Nathaniel 


PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES.  29 

Chapman,  and  Avas  chairman  of  the  committee  charged  with 

the  duty  of  carrying  out  the  expressed  wishes  of  the  class. 

The  portrait  was  painted  by  Sully,  and  now  hangs  in  the 

Wistar  and  Horner  Museum.     I  have  in   my  possession  a 

copy  of  the  letter,  written    by  myself,  addressed   to  Prof. 

Chapman,   requesting   his  assent,  aud  his   autograph  reply, 

which  are  as  follows : 

Philadelphia,  January  27,  1848. 
Peof.  N.  Chapman  : 

Dear  Sir  :  We,  the  undersigned,  committee  of  the  medical  class 
of  the  University  of  Pennsylvania,  are  authorized  to  wait  upon  you 
and  solicit  your  consent  to  have  your  portrait  taken,  Avhich  they 
design  presenting  to  the  museum  of  the  institution  with  which  you 
have  been  so  long  and  so  honorably  connected. 

Permit  us,  sir,  to  add  our  personal  solicitations  and  earnest  hopes 
that  you  will  comply  with  their  request. 

Signed  by  the  Committee. 

Gentlemen  :  I  am  very  sensible  of  the  honor  designed  me  in 
proposing  to  have  my  portrait  taken  to  be  placed  in  the  gallery  of 
the  University  of  Pennsylvania.  For  this  unusual  testimonial  of 
your  kindness  to  me  I  tender  you  my  grateful  acknowledgments.  I 
cannot  refuse  to  gratify  your  wishes  so  gracefully  expressed  to  me, 
and  am  prepared  to  attend  the  artist  at  any  time  which  may  be  ap- 
pointed. 

With  the  highest  resi^ect,  I  am,  gentlemen, 

Yours  truly  and  affectionately, 

N.  Chapman,- 

To  Messrs.  Samuel  C.  Busey,  Cornelius  Kollock,  I.  G.  Hendricks, 
William  H.  Hooper,  William  K.   Mehafl'ey,  Thomas  N.  Getty, 
Frank  Hollins,  Charles  W.  Hale,  John  I.  Campbell. 
Philadelphia,  January  29, 1848. 

Before  the  portrait  was  ready  for  presentation  two  disputes 
arose.  One  related  to  the  constitution  of  the  committee,  which 
was  satisfactorily  settled  by  the  appointment  of  a  member 
from  each  State  represented  in  the  class.  The  other  contro- 
versy was  more  serious,  and  grew  out  of  the  antagonism 
between  Virginia  and  Pennsylvania  in  the  selection  of  the 
student  to  deliver  the  presentation  address.    Virginia  claimed 


30  PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES. 

the  honor  because  Chapman  was  a  native  of  that  State,  and 
Pennsylvania  because  that  State  was  the  home  of  his  adoption 
and  that  his  reputation  had  been  made  in  Philadelphia.  After 
an  angry  controversy  Daniel  A.  Langhorne,  of  Lynchburg, 
Virginia,  a  private  pupil  of  George  B.  Wood,  was  selected. 
The  presentation  ceremonies  took  place  in  the  Anatomical 
Theatre  in  the  presence  of  the  class  and  several  ladies.  Dr. 
Chapman  accepted  the  gift  in  person. 

From  the  Minutes  of  the  Medical  Faculty  of  Alarch  30,  1848. 

A  communication  of  February  15th  was  laid  before  the  Faculty 
from  a  committee  of  students,  announcing  the  completion  of  a  por- 
trait of  Professor  Chapman  by  Sully,  with  a  view  of  its  being  pre- 
sented to  the  Wistar  Museum.  The  Dean  was  instructed  to  enter  on 
the  minutes  that  the  same  had  been  jsresented  on  Wednesday,  the 
15th  of  March,  in  the  Anatomical  Theatre,  in  the  presence  of  the 
Trustees,  the  Medical  Faculty,  and  of  the  Medical  Class,  with  appro- 
priate ceremonies,  an  address  having  been  delivered  by  Mr.  Daniel 
A.  Langhorne,  of  Virginia,  which  was  replied  to  by  Dr.  Chapman. 


CHAPTER   III. 

Life  of  a  Student  of  Medicine  in  the  Private  Class  of  Professor  George  B. 
Wood.  His  Fondness  for  Teaching ;  Kigid  Discipline  of  Students 
and  Requirements  for  Graduation.  Hard  Work  and  no  Play.  Brief 
Sketches  of  the  Hospital  Staff  and  Faculty  of  the  University ;  Joseph 
Warrington  and  others.     vSome  Relics. 

Professor  George  B,  Wood  was  a  famous  teacher.  His 
reputation  as  a  teacher  of  materia  medica  and  therapeutics 
was  unprecedented.  He  made  the  dull  and  dry  details  of  his 
subject  so  interesting  and  attractive  that  his  class-room  was 
always  crowded  with  students  who  followed  him  with  the 
closest  attention.  The  lectures  were  not  read  but  delivered 
from  memoranda,  to  which  he  would  refer.  Specimens  of 
drugs  were  exhibited,  with  full  and  accurate  description  of 
their  physical  characters  and  properties,  and,  so  far  as  was 
possible,  demonstration  of  their  chemical  qualities,  with  spe- 
cial reference  to  incompatibilities.  He  dwelt  especially  upon 
their  medicinal  properties  and  therapeutic  applications. 

He  was  a  fluent  speaker,  distinct  in  enunciation,  and  very 
precise  and  exact  in  expression.  His  diction  was  elegant  and 
his  language  was  choice.  He  never  uttered  a  word  or  sen- 
tence intended  to  excite  mirth  or  laughter.  No  student  would 
have  treated  him  with  the  disrespect  of  laughing  in  his  pres- 
ence during  a  lecture.  Every  subject  was  discussed  with  the 
gravity  of  the  highest  dignity  and  importance,  and  whilst  his 
manner  was  formal  and  sometimes  austere,  he  was  always 
polite  to  the  utmost  degree,  and  commanded  the  respect  and 
admiration  of  even  the  most  indifferent  students  in  the  class, 
but  was  greatly  feared  by  all  students  who  were  poorly  pre- 
pared in  his  branch,  because  it  was  generally  believed  that  no 
one  could  graduate  who  did  not  receive  his  vote  on  the  final 


32  PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES. 

examination.  Such  was  his  reputation  when  I  entered  his 
private  class,  and  such  I  found  it  to  be  as  I  knew  him  better 
and  more  intimately. 

He  was  tall,  with  a  spare  frame,  without  any  superfluous 
flesh.  His  features  were  marked,  and  denoted  firmness,  de- 
cision, reserve,  and  dignity.  His  expression  was  calm,  sedate, 
and  quiet,  but  pleasant  and  contented,  and  when  talking  was 
illuminated  with  a  smile,  which  added  a  charm  to  his  conver- 
sation. He  was  free  and  easy  in  conversation  in  social  life, 
and  seemed  to  enjoy  a  hearty  laugh. 

With  a  jet-black  wig,  always  in  perfect  order,  hairless  eye- 
brows and  eyelids,  a  beardless  face,  except  here  and  there  a 
cluster  of  a  few  very  black  hairs  on  the  chin  and  sides  of  the 
face,  his  appearance  was  so  striking  as  to  attract  the  observa- 
tion of  every  stranger.  It  was  not,  however,  disagreeable, 
but  seemed  to  grow  in  attractiveness  with  acquaintance  and 
intercourse.  It  was  generally  believed  that  he  never  had  any 
hair  on  his  scalp,  and  some  asserted  that  he  never  had  any 
natural  teeth.  I  could  never  convince  myself  of  the  truth  of 
the  latter  statement,  because  his  teeth  looked  natural  and  were 
kept  in  good  order.  He  was  a  Friend  by  descent  and  in 
belief,  attended  the  Friends'  meetings,  but  had  abandoned  the 
conventional  style  of  dress  of  that  sect  and  the  use  of  "  thee  " 
and  "  thine,"  except  when  in  conversation  with  other  members 
of  the  Society  of  Friends.  I  never  saw  him  dressed  in  any- 
thing but  black  clothing — a  dress  coat,  and  hat  always  of  the 
same  pattern,  a  tall  black  silk,  with  medium  breadth  of  rim, 
which  was  always  removed  when  in  the  house. 

Dr.  Wood  was  a  man  of  wealth,  lived  in  dignified  simplicity, 
but  in  great  ease  and  comfort,  and  resided  in  a  large  hand- 
some double  house  on  Arch  Street,  with  a  side-door  from  an 
alley-way  leading  into  the  garden  in  the  rear  of  the  dwelling. 
Within  this  side-door  was  a  small  hallway  with  a  door  lead- 
ing into  his  private  office  or  library,  the  windows  of  which 
looked  out  into  the  garden,  and  another  door  opening  into 
the  recitation-room,  fronting  on  the  street.     From  the  hall- 


PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES.  33 

way  a  flight  of  steps  led  down  into  the  basement  to  a  room 
fitted  up  for  tlie  occupancy  of  the  students,  if  they  choose;  but 
it  was  never  occupied  by  them  except,  jierhaps,  on  some  special 
occasion  when  some  student  might  desire  to  examine  some 
medical  book  which  he  did  not  possess  and  did  not  wish  to 
purchase.  The  students  preferred  to  prepare  themselves  for 
their  recitations  in  their  own  private  apartments  at  their  lodg- 
ings. The  library  was  fitted  up  with  all  the  appurtenances 
which  a  man  of  wealth,  taste,  and  learning  would  require  for 
his  personal  comfort.  The  garden  and  green-house  in  the 
rear  were  set  apart  exclusively  for  the  growth  and  care  of 
medicinal  plants  with  which  he  illustrated  and  embellished 
his  lectures.  To  them  he  gave  great  attention,  and  was 
always  pleased  to  have  his  students  go  through  and  examine 
the  growing  plants. 

Professor  Wood  was  a  very  popular  teacher,  and  personally 
popular  with  those  who  knew  him  in  social  life.  Indifferent 
and  frolicsome  students  did  not  like  but  feared  him.  He  was 
kind  and  courteous  to  the  students,  and  especially  kind  to 
those  who  sought  his  aid  in  sickness ;  but  he  was  not  the  man 
for  whom  students  would  send  when  in  some  police  trouble, 
not  because  they  feared  he  would  not  release  them,  but  because 
they  did  not  wish  him  to  know  of  such  escapades. 

He  was  a  hard  worker,  an  indefatigable  student,  and  seemed 
to  be  animated  by  the  thought  that  what  he  had  and  could 
accomplish  his  students  might  likewise  accomplish,  and  that 
it  was  his  duty  to  compel  them  to  acquit  themselves  with 
credit  to  himself  and  themselves. 

The  foregoing  details  constitute  the  necessary  prelude  to 
what  is  to  follow  in  the  record  of  the  life-history  of  a  student 
of  the  University  in  his  private  class.  Without  some  knowl- 
edge of  the  man  no  one  could  appreciate  the  teacher  and  drill- 
master. 

When  I  entered  his  library  and  informed  him  of  the  object 
of  my  visit  he  received  me  with  that  stiif,  formal,  and  reserved 
politeness  for  which  he  was  distinguished,  shook  hands  with 

3 


34  PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES. 

me,  and,  pointing  to  a  chair,  invited  me  to  be  seated.     After 
chatting  a  few  moments  about  matters  in  general,  as  if  he  was 
searching  me  intellectually  and  educationally,  he  directed  his 
inquiries  more  particularly  to   my   knowledge  of  medicine, 
preliminary  education,  family  history,  place  of  residence,  and 
many  apparently  idle  remarks,  as  if  to  make  me  feel  more  at 
ease.     Then,  referring  to  the  object  of  my  visit,  he  said  very 
deliberately  and  emphatically  that  he  taught  for  the  love  of 
teaching,  did  not  want  and  would  not  keep  any  student  in  his 
class  who  failed  to  comply  with  his  requirements  or  could  not 
or  would  not  keep  up  with  the  class.     I  had  heard  all  this 
before,  but  it  sounded  ominous  as  I  heard  the  words  and  wit- 
nessed the  gravity  with  which  they  were  uttered.     He  then 
proceeded  to  tell  me,  in  the  same  deliberate  and  measured 
manner,  that  he  required  a  recitation  weekly  on  every  branch 
(seven)  taught  in  the  college,  both  during  the  lecture  season 
and  vacation,  the  obstetric  and  surgical  recitations  to  be  con- 
ducted by  some  other  than  himself;  a  course  of  demonstrative 
and  clinical  midwifery  in  the  Obstetric  Institute,  then  under 
the  supervision  of  Joseph  Warrington,  from  which,  upon  the 
completion  of  the  courses,  a  certificate   must  be  obtained, 
attesting  faithful  and  satisfactory  attendance  to  duties,  and 
qualification  to  practise  obstetrics  ;  attendance  upon  the  sum- 
mer school  of  Neal,  Reese,  and  others  ;  daily  attendance,  ex- 
cept Sunday,  at  the  Pennsylvania  Hospital  in  both  the  medical 
and  surgical  wards  during  the  vacation,  and  the  clinical  lec- 
tures, twice  weekly,  during  the  college  lecture  season,  and, 
finally,  attendance  of  two  courses  of  lectures  at  the  Univer- 
sity.    Then  he  added  that  he  charged  one  hundred  dollars  a 
year,  payable  in  advance,  for  tuition,  but  that  he  paid  the 
expenses  of  his  students  at  the  Hospital,  Obstetric  Institute, 
and  Summer  School,  which  I  ascertained  amounted  nearly  to 
the  sum  he  charged — that  is,  it  would  have  cost  me  about  one 
hundred  dollars  to  have  obtained  the  tickets  separately  and 
independently.     I  handed  him  the  money,  for  which  he  wrote 
a  receipt,  enclosed  it  in  an  envelope  directed  to  me,  which  he 


PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES.  35 

handed  to  me  with  his  thanks.  As  I  left  his  presence  he 
shook  hands  with  me,  named  the  hour  when  the  class  would 
assemble  in  the  room  across  the  hall,  and  requested  my 
attendance. 

The  impression  left  by  this  interview  was  not  unfavorable 
to  him  as  a  preceptor,  but  it  excited  grave  apprehensions  of 
inability  to  fulfil  the  requirements  ;  nevertheless,  before  reach- 
ing my  lodgings,  I  had  resolved  to  accept  the  situation  and 
make  the  struggle — to  labor  intently  to  accomplish  the  task 
before  me  and  win  his  good  opinion,  and  I  believe  I  did. 
Never,  since  I  received  my  diploma,  during  the  past  forty- 
seven  years,  have  I  had  occasion  to  regret  my  student-life  in 
his  private  class. 

The  following  description  of  a  recitation  refers  exclusively 
to  those  during  the  University  lecture  season  when  the  days 
were  short.  The  reader  will  observe  that  some  of  the  details 
of  arrangement  and  procedure  are  inapplicable  to  a  recitation 
during  the  long  afternoons  of  summer. 

The  class,  twenty-five  in  number,  assembled  about  5  o'clock 
P.M.  in  the  room,  already  prepared  by  the  arrangement  of 
chairs  around  the  room,  in  the  centre  of  which  was  a  table, 
under  the  chandelier,  on  which  had  been  placed  the  text-book 
for  the  occasion,  with  the  beginning  and  the  end  of  the  lesson 
marked  by  precisely  cut  strips  of  white  paper,  two  tall  silver 
candlesticks,  each  with  an  unlighted  spermaceti  candle,  and  a 
pair  of  silver  caudle-snuffers,  with  tray.  Each  student  occu- 
pied the  same  seat  at  every  recitation.  Dr.  Wood,  with 
unvarying  promptness,  would  enter  the  room  through  a  side 
door  from  the  main  hall  of  the  dwelling,  when  the  students 
would  rise  simultaneously  to  receive  his  greeting  by  hand- 
shakiug  as  he  approached  each  one.  Then  he  would  light  the 
candles,  carefully  trim  the  wicks  with  the  snuffers,  and,  when 
seated,  would  remove  his  gold  spectacles,  burnish  them  with 
his  silk  pocket-handkerchief,  and  replace  them  with  marked 
and  deliberate  precision.  As  a  rule,  not  one  word  would  be 
spoken  after  his  entrance  until  the  completion  of  this  ceremo- 


36  PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES. 

nial  prelude,  which  had  to  be  performed  at  every  recitation. 
Having  completed  the  preliminaries,  he  would  take  from  the 
table  the  text-book,  open  it  at  the  page  marked  for  the  begin- 
ning of  the  lesson,  and  begin  his  examination  with  some 
student  whom  he  believed  was  not  the  one  with  whom  he 
began  the  previous  examination.  The  recitation  continued 
without  regard  to  time  until  the  assigned  lesson  had  been 
completed.  He  never  committed  the  agreeable  mistake  of 
assigning  a  short  lesson. 

His  method  of  examination  was  peculiar.  The  margins 
of  the  leaves  of  the  text-books  which  he  used  \vere  marked 
with  pencil  at  the  points  indicating  a  question,  which  were 
numerous  enough  to  indicate  every  sentence,  and,  on  many 
pages,  every  line,  so  that  the  minute  details  of  answer  were 
almost  equivalent  to  the  verbatim  recital  of  the  contents  of 
the  page.  Usually  several  questions  in  succession  would  be 
put  to  each  student,  unless  an  unsatisfactory  answer  was  made, 
when  he  would  pass  the  question  to  the  next  in  order ;  so  on, 
the  recitation  would  continue  until  its  conclusion.  I  never 
knew  him  to  commend  a  recitation,  however  faultless  it  might 
have  been,  and  many  times  I  have  gone  through  a  drill  with- 
out having  heard  a  single  incomplete  answer.  At  times  he 
would  pause  to  point  out  or  to  explain  some  important  fact, 
or  to  call  attention  to  the  difference  of  opinion  on  the  same 
subject ;  especially  would  this  occur  in  the  recitation  on  the 
practice  of  medicine,  when  he  wished  to  set  forth  his  own 
opinion. 

In  this  connection  impartial  history  requires  the  record, 
just  here,  of  the  fact  that  two  students  were  dismissed  from 
the  class  during  my  term  of  service.  One  not  alone  because 
of  his  failure  to  keep  up,  but  because  of  a  vulgar,  though 
descriptively  correct,  answer  given  to  the  question,  "  "Where 
is  the  perineum  located  ?  "  He  never  appeared  either  at  a 
recitation  or  about  the  University  afterward.  The  other  was 
a  young  gentleman  of  most  exemplary  habits  and  a  faithful 
student.     He  made  every  possible  effort  to  keep  up,  but  the 


PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES.  37 

work  was  too  much  for  him.  The  first  breakdown,  which 
had  been  threatened  for  some  time  previously,  did  not  so  much 
surprise  some  of  us  as  the  deliberate  and  cold-blooded  manner 
in  which  Dr.  Wood  told  him,  in  the  presence  of  the  class,  that 
he  could  never  make  a  doctor,  and  had  better  go  to  farming. 
The  sensibilities  of  those  who  knew  he  was  not  a  wilful  delin- 
quent were  shocked.  He  continued  his  studies  at  the  Univer- 
sity, and  graduated  in  the  Class  of  '48. 

Dr.  Wood  did  not  follow  the  college  faculty  in  text-books, 
but  selected  such  as  he  preferred.  Hare's  Chemistry  was 
abandoned  because  it  was  beyond  the  comprehension  of  the 
ordinary  student.  Jackson's  lectures  on  "  The  Institutes  of 
Medicine  "  were  so  original  in  conception  and  delivered  with 
such  fluent  fervor,  seemingly  replete  with  his  deductions  from 
the  recent  and  current  researches  in  experimental  physiology, 
that  it  was  impossible  to  follow  him  beyond  the  catching  of 
the  head-lines  of  each  lecture,  so  that  our  recitations  on  physi- 
ology followed  the  pages  of  a  welj-known  author.  Chapman's 
lectures  had,  for  the  most  part,  been  published  precisely  as  they 
were  delivered  to  the  class,  but  that  wa:3  not  the  practice  of 
medicine  Wood  was  teaching,  and  whilst  he  took  the  trouble  to 
learn  by  casual  examinations  how  much  we  knew  of  the  subjects 
of  the  lectures  as  Professor  Chapman  progressed  with  their  read- 
ing before  the  class,  he  imposed  upon  us  other  and  very  onerous 
duties  in  the  branch  of  the  practice  of  medicine.  During  the 
course  of  1847-48,  in  the  early  part  of  January,  he  informed 
the  class  that  the  first  volume  of  his  work  on  the  Practice  of 
3Iedicine  was  ready,  and  that  he  would  require  a  weekly  reci- 
tation on  it.  This  announcement  was  received  with  general 
discontent,  but  submitted  to  without  remonstrance.  On  ma- 
teria  medica  he  followed  the  syllabus  of  his  lectures,  with 
which  he  supplied  every  matriculant  at  the  University,  which 
involved  the  labor  of  taking  notes,  and  preparation  from  such 
notes  and  the  United  States  Dispensatory.  No  deficiencies 
were  tolerated  in  these  recitations.  Every  one  had  to  toe  the 
mark  or  accept  his  displeasure. 


38  PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES. 

The  course  in  the  Obstetric  Institute  consisted  of  a  course 
of  demonstrative  lectures  by  Joseph  Warrington,  M.D.,  to  a 
class  of  twelve  second-course  students  and  an  equal  number 
of  pupil  female  nurses,  one  woman  being  assigned  to  each 
student.  Every  student  was  required  to  perform  on  the 
manakin,  with  the  assistance  of  his  nurse,  in  the  presence  of 
the  whole  class  of  men  and  women,  every  manipulation  and 
operation  necessary  from  the  beginning  of  labor  t5  its  termi- 
nation, including  washing  and  dressing  the  baby  and  put- 
ting it  to  the  breast  of  the  mother.  These  manipulations  had 
to  be  repeated  as  often  as  necessary  to  satisfy  the  Principal 
of  the  Institute  of  the  student's  competency  to  attend  a  case 
of  labor.  After  the  conclusion  of  this  course  the  student 
entered  the  out-door  department,  and  was  assigned  to  cases  of 
labor,  of  which  he  was  required  to  keep  and  return  to  the 
Institute,  for  examination,  a  full  and  complete  history.  After 
the  satisfactory  discharge  of  all  the  duties  and  obligations  of 
both  courses  he  received  a  parchment  certificate  attesting  his 
qualifications  to  practise  obstetrics.  In  cases  of  difficulty  or 
embarrassment  the  student  could  call  to  his  assistance,  first, 
the  second  assistant,  Dr.  Brickell,  afterward  a  distinguished 
obstetrician  in  New  Orleans ;  next,  the  first  assistant.  Dr. 
Ellwood  Wilson,  of  Philadelphia,  whose  reputation  in  after- 
life is  well  known  to  the  profession  throughout  the  country ; 
and,  lastly,  the  principal.  Dr.  Joseph  Warrington.  The  two 
courses  occupied  about  six  months.  I  have  not  forgotten, 
and  perhaps  never  will,  the  summer  heat  of  1847,  during 
which  I  tramped  through  the  alleys  and  by-ways  of  the 
Moyamensing  division  of  the  city  in  attendance  upon  my 
patients. 

Joseph  Warrington  was  also  a  Friend,  not  unlike  Wood  in 
the  enforcement  of  discipline ;  but  he  was  more  approachable 
and  aflPable,  and  always  enjoyed  and  encouraged  conversation 
with  his  "  doctors,"  as  he  called  all  the  students  of  his  class. 
He  seemed  to  like  to  throw  aside  the  ordinary  dignity  and 
reserve  of  the  Friends,  and  laugh  and  chat  at  ease  in   his 


PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES.  39 

dressing-go  WD.     He  was  a  charming  man  and  beloved   by 
everybody. 

The  course  in  the  Summer  School,  which  occupied  two  hours 
a  day  during  the  months  of  May  and  June,  was  satisfactory 
and  very  pleasant.  Neal  held  the  lectureships  on  Anatomy 
and  Surgery,  Reese  on  Physiology  and  another  branch,  and 
the  others  by  physicians  whose  names  I  cannot  now  recall. 
My  recollections  are  that  we  had  to  stand  a  "  quiz "  every 
week  on  each  branch,  but  it  did  not  impose  any  hardship  or 
additional  labor. 

The  attendance  at  the  Pennsylvania  Hospital  was  very 
interesting  and  instructive.  It  afforded  opportunity  to  follow 
and  learn  the  treatment  of  cases,  from  the  beginning  to  the 
end,  by  such  men  as  Wood,  Gerrard,  and  Pepper  in  the  med- 
ical, and  Xorris,  Peace,  and  Randolph  in  the  surgical  wards, 
and  to  attend  the  clinical  lectures  in  the  hospital  amphithe- 
atre twice  a  week,  where  we  could  see  the  surgical  operations 
and  examine  post-mortem  specimens  of  disease.  Much  atten- 
tion was  given  to  the  exhibition  and  explanation  of  morbid 
specimens. 

Pepper  and  Gerrard  were  men  of  eminent  abilities.  The 
former  was  one  of  the  most  astute  and  skilful  diagnosticians 
I  have  ever  known,  and  a  very  instructive  and  impressive 
teacher.  His  manner  and  style  were  so  simple  and  unpreten- 
tious that  the  listener  followed  him  with  irresistible  pleasure 
and  profit. 

In  appearance,  dress,  and  manner  Gerrard  was  a  distin- 
guished and  recognized  oddity.  Though  cool  and  self-pos- 
sessed, he  was  a  mumbling  talker,  with  inadequate  capacity 
to  present  any  subject  in  clear,  distinct,  and  sharp  outlines ; 
nevertheless,  he  was  very  popular  with  his  private  pupils,  and 
pre-eminently  distinguished  for  his  accuracy  in  the  diagnosis 
of  intra-thoracic  diseases. 

Peace  was  a  skilful  surgeon  but  an  untidy  operator.  He 
seemed  to  collect  all  the  blood  lost  in  an  operation  about  his 
own  person. 


40  PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES. 

Norris  was  not  less  distinguished  as  a  careful,  painstaking, 
and  successful  surgeon  than  either  of  his  colleagues.  His 
gentleness  with  and  consideration  for  patients  exemplified  the 
noblest  impulses  of  a  conscientious  and  Christian  physician, 
and  won  the  esteem  and  affection  of  every  one  whose  good 
fortune  it  was  to  follow  him  through  the  wards  filled  with 
suifering  patients.  He  greeted  every  poor  creature  with  words 
so  gently  and  so  softly  spoken  that  patient  and  pupil  were 
alike  impressed  with  the  kindness  of  his  heart  and  sympathy 
of  a  soul  that  was  animated  by  the  highest  inspiration  of 
beneficence. 

Randolph  was  a  portly  man,  with  a  broad,  round,  full  face, 
and  a  jolly,  good-natured  expression  ;  very  vain  of  his  acquire- 
ments, and  pedantic  in  setting  them  forth  to  the  class.  He  was 
a  dexterous  operator  and  a  brilliant  lecturer.  I  fancy  I  see 
him  now,  with  blade  in  hand,  telling  the  class  in  fluent  and 
elegant  sentences  what  he  intended  to  do,  and  when  done, 
with  equal  fluency  and  enthusiasm,  the  result  to  be  expected. 
Here  and  there  every  lecture  was  interspersed  with  laudatory 
references  to  his  ''  distinguished  father-in-law,  Philip  Syng 
Physick,"  whom  he  seemed  to  respect  and  admire  as  the  one  man 
whose  qualifications  surpassed  his  own.  So  attractive  were 
his  lectures,  and  so  neat  and  dexterous  his  operations,  that 
complaisant  students  willingly  dismissed  his  vanities  with  the 
discourteous  cognomen  of  "Old  Philip  Syng."  He  died  near 
the  close  of  the  course  of  1847-48,  and,  with  the  students 
from  the  medical  colleges,  I  followed  his  remains  from  the  old 
Physick  mansion  on  Fourth  Street  to  their  last  resting-place. 

Fox  succeeded  him,  but  of  him  I  know  nothing  beyond 
his  general  reputation  as  a  surgeon. 

Anaesthetics  had  not  then  been  introduced  into  the  Pennsyl-' 
vania  Hospital.  I  witnessed,  during  the  session  of  1847-48, 
the  administration  of  ether  several  times  in  Professor  Gibson's 
clinic  at  the  college,  but  do  not  recollect  having  seen  chloro- 
form administered  before  graduation.  On  one  occasion  a 
bottle  of  chloroform  was  handed  around  in  the  class,  I  think 


PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES.  41 

by  Professor  Gibson,  that  each  person  might  sniff  of  it,  which 
many  declined  to  do.  I  was  very  much  impressed  with  the 
great  difference  in  patients  in  the  exhibition  of  pain  and  suf- 
fering during  surgical  procedures,  which  was  very  generally 
ascribed  to  the  difference  in  operators.  Speed  in  execution 
and  dexterity  were  important  considerations,  and  a  surgeon 
who  combined  both  qualities  seemed  to  occasion  much  less 
pain.  The  apparently  complete  absence  of  suffering  in  some 
cases  was  inexplicable. 

The  history  of  my  attendance  on  two  courses  of  lectures 
at  the  University  is  devoid  of  special  incident  except  such  as 
has  been  noted  or  may  be  referred  to  later.  Nor  can  I  by  the 
record  of  personal  reminiscences  add  anything  to  the  high 
professional  standing  of  the  medical  faculty  of  that  period. 
It  may  not,  however,  be  inappropriate  for  me  to  add  such 
personal  recollections  of  the  qualifications  which  may  have 
fitted  or  unfitted  any  of  them  for  teaching  the  branches  of 
scientific  medicine  which  devolved  upon  them. 

Professor  Hare  did  not  pretend  to  teach  medical  chemistry, 
but  confined  himself  only  to  general  chemistry  as  taught  in 
scientific  schools.  He  was  a  most  indifferent  teacher,  awk- 
ward in  manner,  halting  in  speech,  and  prosy  in  delivery.  He 
was,  notwithstanding,  a  successful  and  brilliant  experimenter, 
and  his  laboratory  was  usually  well  occupied  by  students  to 
witness  the  scenic  exhibition  which  he,  with  the  assistance  of 
the  old  laborers,  "Liebig"  and  "Berzelius,"  made  so  attrac- 
tive. 

Prof.  Hare  resigned  in  1847,  and  was  succeeded  by  James 
B.  Rogers,  and  my  second  course  in  chemistry  was  altogether 
different,  and  was  as  instructive  as  it  was  attractive.  The 
resignation  of  Hare  was  believed  at  the  time  to  have  been 
precipitated  by  a  controversy  with  Jackson,  which  occurred 
during  a  meeting  of  the  American  Medical  Association,  which 
held  its  second  annual  session  in  Philadelphia  in  May,  1847. 
I  did  not  hear  the  controversy,  but  heard  it  frequently  referred 
to  as  a  most  violent  attack  upon  Jackson.      I  was,  however, 


42  PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES. 

present  when  Chapman  was  elected  President,  witnessed  the 
dignified  formalities  of  induction  into  office,  and  heard  his 
inaugural  address  of  thanks  for  the  honor. 

The  circumstances  of  my  presence  at  the  first  session  of  the 
American  Medical  Association,  and  witnessing  the  inaugura- 
tion of  the  first  President  of  that  august  assemblage  of  medical 
men,  suggested  the  inquiry  to  ascertain  the  number,  names, 
and  residences  of  those  who  have  survived  the  period  of  forty- 
seven  years  since  elapsed.  I  am  enabled,  through  the  polite- 
ness of  Dr.  William  B.  Atkinson,  the  Permanent  Secretary,  to 
state  that  but  five  are  now  (July,  1894)  known  to  be  living. 
They  are  Hiram  Corson,  Plymouth,  Pa. ;  Alfred  Stille  and 
Lewis  Rodman,  Philadelphia ;  Oliver  Wendell  Holmes,^ 
Boston  ;  and  Nathan  S.  Davis,  Chicago. 

There  were  undoubtedly  many  students  like  myself  then 
residing  in  Philadelphia  who  attended  the  meetings,  and  it 
would  be  interesting  to  ascertain  their  names  and  residences  ; 
but  it  is  not  possible  to  do  so,  except  by  their  voluntary  state- 
ment of  the  fact  of  their  presence. 

In  view  of  these  facts  it  seems  eminently  proper  that  prep- 
arations should  be  initiated  at  Baltimore,  in  1895,  for  an 
appropriate  commemorative  celebration  of  the  semi-centennial 
anniversary  at  Philadelphia  in  1897.  Eiforts  should  be  made 
to  secure  the  attendance  of  the  survivors  of  the  founders, 
and  also  of  those  now  members  who  were  students  of  medi- 
cine in  attendance  as  spectators  in  1847.  This  latter  propo- 
sition is  somewhat  experimental,  inasmuch  as  there  is  no 
I'ecord  of  such  accidental  attendants,  whose  casual  presence 
would  hardly  entitle  them  to  official  participation  in  such 
commemorative  ceremonies. 

Professor  Chapman  was,  perhaps,  the  most  noted  man  who 
walked  the  streets  of  Philadelphia  at  that  time,  not  only 
because  of  his  commanding  presence,  but  for  his  attainments, 
generous  disposition,  noble  and  lovable  character,  and  wit. 

1  Died  October  8,  1894. 


PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES.  43 

A  cleft  palate,  with  its  consequent  indistinct  utterance,  robbed 
him  of  every  charm  as  a  teacher,  for  which  his  vast  experience, 
great  learning,  and  qualities  of  heart  and  raiud  so  well  fitted 
him.  The  most  careful  attentipn,  near  and  in  front  of  him, 
was  necessary  to  catch  the  words  as  they  were  spoken,  except 
by  those  who  by  long  experience  had  become  accustomed  to 
his  unfortunate  and  defective  enunciation.  When  I  entered 
his  room  for  final  examination,  after  greeting  me  with  a  pleas- 
ant salutation,  and  learning  from  the  register  that  "  Cholera 
Infantum "  was  the  subject  of  my  thesis,  he  immediately 
requested  me  to  tell  him  all  I  knew  about  diaphragmatic 
hernia.  I  had  fortunately  listened  with  close  attention  and 
interest  to  his  lectures,  after  a  consultation  visit  to  Senator 
Barrow,  of  Louisiana,  in  Baltimore,  in  whose  case  he  had  made 
the  diagnosis  of  diaphragmatic  hernia,  and,  subsequently,  to 
another  lecture  in  which  he  had  exhibited  the  specimen  and 
explained  with  great  minuteness  the  details.  I  proceeded, 
in  response,  with  a  statement  of  the  case  and  description  of 
the  specimen,  and  when  I  had  concluded  he  arose,  shook  me 
most  cordially  by  the  hands,  and  said,  "  You  have  attended 
my  lectures ;  I  will  vote  for  you."  I  passed  a  very  creditable 
examination  on  the  practice  of  medicine  on  my  knowledge  of 
an  affection  which  I  have  never  since  seen. 

Gibson,  Horner,  and  Hodge  were  eminent  and  popular 
teachers,  and  their  memories  are  held  in  grateful  remembrance 
by  everyone  whose  fortune  it  was  to  have  their  signatui'es  to 
his  diploma. 

William  E.  Horner  was  a  tall,  spare  man,  with  sharp  feat- 
ures and  a  homely  face.  He  was  a  very  plain  and  unostenta- 
tious gentleman,  unassuming  and  direct  in  all  things.  He 
never  said  anything  or  any  more  than  he  intended  to  say, 
and  that  in  as  few  words  as  would  convey  his  exact  meaning. 
He  taught  anatomy  by  demonstration,  and  always  knew  when 
he  had  completed  the  description  of  any  part. 

William  Gibson  was  a  heavily-built  man,  with  a  broad, 
round  face  and  ruddy  complexion.     He  was  very  vain  of  his 


44  PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES. 

personal  appearance,  and  more  so  of  his  reputation  as  a  sur- 
geon and  teacher  of  surgery.  His  style  of  lecturing  was  easy, 
agreeable,  and  instructive,  but  he  never  omitted  an  opportu- 
nity to  set  forth  his  own  merits  and  to  depreciate  the  ability 
of  surgeons  whom  he  disliked.  He  was  especially  vindictive 
against  his  leading  rival  in  Philadelphia. 

He  spent  the  summer  of  1847  in  Europe,  and  returned 
late  in  the  autumn  with  a  large  outfit  of  broadly  striped 
waistcoats  and  trousers  to  match,  which  he  wore  on  successive 
lecture  days  until  he  had  exhibited  to  the  class  the  entire 
wardrobe  of  the  latest  English  fashionable  winter  wearing- 
apparel.  The  class  received  him  every  day  during  these  suc- 
cessive dress  exhibitions  with  prolonged  rounds  of  applause, 
which  he  attributed  to  their  personal  admiration  and  received 
with  profound  gratitude. 

The  fancy  clothes  of  Gibson  w^ere  a  startling  departure  from 
the  professional  style  of  dress  in  vogue  at  the  University  at 
that  period.  It  was  the  inflexible  rule  of  conduct  for  each 
professor  to  come  to  the  lecture-room  in  full  dress,  not  differ- 
ing, except  in  some  minor  details,  from  the  style  of  to-day. 
The  most  marked  difference  was  in  the  dress-coat,  which  was 
made  with  a  collar  so  high  as  to  reach,  in  some  cases,  the 
occiput,  and  made  so  stiff  that  the  pressure  of  one's  head 
backward  could  not  displace  it.  Many  elderly  gentlemen 
had  their  trousers  made  with  a  lapel  opening  in  front  instead 
of  the  more  convenient  fashion  of  to-day. 

The  customary  dress  of  lecturers  at  that  period  was  prefer- 
able to  the  present  style  and  easy-going,  slouchy  habits  of  dress, 
especially  of  professors  in  medical  colleges,  of  the  present  time. 
A  sack-coat  and  other  negligi  addenda  of  dress  detract  from 
the  dignity  and  impressive  bearing  of  the  lecture  rostrum,  and 
seem  only  suitable,  if  admissible  at  any  time,  when  and 
where  the  huzza  may  resound  in  popular  acclaim. 

Hugh  L.  Hodge  was  a  great  and  good  man.  He  came  to 
his  lecture  duties  with  the  spirit  of  a  man  who  felt  that  he  had 
a  conscientious  duty  to  discharge,  and  that  it  must  be  accom- 


PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES.  45 

plislied  to  the  full  measure  of  the  highest  Christian  obligation. 
His  calm,  quiet,  and  solemn  expression,  together  witii  his 
well-chosen  words  and  deliberate  manner,  seemed  to  reflect 
the  purity,  conscientiousness,  and  Christian  earnestness  of  the 
inner  man  with  such  intensity  as  to  impress  his  audience  with 
the  conviction  that  he  could  only  give  utterance  to  truth  and 
facts  derived  from  conscientious  and  intelligent  experience  and 
observation,  and  profound  study  of  every  problem  relating  to 
the  science  of  obstetrics.  He  was  the  very  ideal  of  a  Chris- 
tian physician  in  appearance,  in  demeanor,  and  in  every 
relation  of  life. 

At  the  proper  time,  near  the  close  of  the  session  of  1847-48, 
my  application  for  final  examination  was  filed,  with  the  knowl- 
edge and  consent  of  my  preceptor.  I  do  not  know  that  every 
one  of  his  students  adopted  the  same  course,  but  presume  his 
consent  was  a  necessary  preliminary.  In  the  ordinary  routine 
of  procedure  in  such  matters  I  received  notice  stating  the  days, 
hours,  and  professors  at  which  and  before  whom  the  class 
would  appear  for  final  examination.  At  that  time  the  candi- 
dates for  graduation  were  subdivided  into  classes  of  sixteen, 
generally  arranged  by  the  students  themselves.  There  were 
fifteen  of  us,  and  Cornelius  KoUock,  of  South  Carolina,  was 
admitted  to  fill  the  quota.  The  position  of  each  student  in 
his  class  was  usually  determined  by  lot,  aud  the  position  of 
the  class  on  the  roster  of  examination  always  by  lot.  I  drew 
first  in  my  own  class  and  first  for  the  class  on  the  roster.  The 
advantage  of  being  high  on  the  examination  roster  was  in 
time,  gaining  a  day  or  two  in  completing  the  routine  of  exam- 
ination, and  in  being  high  in  the  class  secured  one  from  de- 
tention to  a  late  hour  at  night,  and  possible  misfortune  of 
following  one  or  more  students  who  might  have  failed. 
These  seemed  to  be  trivial  advantages,  but  were  considered 
of  sufficient  importance  to  incite  a  friendly  contest. 

After  we  had  completed  what  was  supposed  to  be  the  final 
recitation.  Dr.  Wood  asked  us  to  retain  our  seats  that  he  might 
submit  a  proposition,  which  was  to  the  effect  that  the  second 


46  PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES. 

volume  of  his  work  on  the  Practice  of  Medicine  was  just  from 
the  press,  and  if  we  would  remain  with  him  and  go  through 
it,  with  several  recitations  each  week,  he  would  not  examine 
us  for  our  degree,  and  would  cheerfully  give  each  one  of  us 
his  vote.  The  proposition  was  accepted  in  sullen  acquiescence. 
Not  one  dared  to  remonstrate  or  to  intimate  discontent.  Con- 
sequently, we  were  confined  to  our  rooms  and  studies  until 
released  at  the  commencement  on  the  8th  of  April,  while  all 
other  graduates  were  indulging  in  such  pastimes,  recreations, 
and  pleasures  as  best  suited  their  taste  and  leisure.  We  must 
have,  nevertheless,  appreciated  the  wisdom  of  his  course,  for 
each  one  of  us  must  have  realized  the  advantage  that  addi- 
tional month  of  study  under  the  supervision  of  such  a  master- 
teacher  has  been  to  him,  and  especially  so  in  the  beginning  of 
our  professional  lives. 

At  that  time  Philadelphia  was  the  principal  centre  of  med- 
ical education  in  this  country.  Both  of  the  great  schools — 
the  Jefferson  and  the  University — had  large  classes,  number- 
ing five  hundred  or  more  matriculants.  There  were  no  dis- 
agreeable  rivalries  between  the  classes.  A  very  large  number 
of  both  classes  were  young  men  from  the  country,  without 
experience  in  city  life.  They  came  to  the  great  city  in  home- 
spun clothes,  made  in  country  style,  so  characteristic  in  many 
instances  of  provincial  habits,  taste,  and  style  as  to  mark  the 
State  or  locality  whence  they  came ;  but  these  provincialisms, 
with  others  of  speech,  enunciation,  and  dialect,  vanished  with 
the  changed  condition  of  life,  new  experiences,  and  cosmopol- 
itan associations  and  environments  which  came  to  them  during 
their  college  lives  in  the  city  of  Philadelphia,  Kentucky  jeans 
and  Tennessee  butternut  suits,  with  their  broad-brimmed 
slouch  hats,  disappeared  with  amazing  rapidity  before  the 
temptations  of  the  ready-made  clothing  establishment,  sup- 
plemented by  the  greater  and  more  esthetic  enticements  of  the 
fashionable  tailor ;  and  the  tar-heeled  dialect,  less  easily  dis- 
placed than  wearing-apparel,  finally  yielded  to  more  cultivated 
enunciation  and  elegance  of  language.      There  were  many 


PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES.  47 

noble  spirits  and  bright  intellects  concealed  under  such  rough 
exteriors  that  soon  made  intellectual  development  their  mark 
of  distinction. 

In  the  louely  quiet  of  my  library,  before  the  glowing  fire, 
surrounded  by  the  comforts  of  a  well-kept  home,  whilst  the 
midnight  caudle  was  still  burning  and  all  nature  without  was 
quiet,  I  have  often  recalled  the  associations  and  memories  of 
incidents,  circumstances,  and  pleasures  which  made  my  life  so 
happy  and  contented  during  the  period  of  pupilage  in  Pro- 
fessor Wood's  private  class.  Aud  now,  as  I  write  these 
words,  forty-six  years  thereafter,  I  have  no  censure  to  record 
nor  regret  to  offer. 

The  custom  of  the  members  of  the  Faculty  to  entertain 
the  class  added  greatly  to  the  pleasure  of  the  students.  I  am 
not  quite  certain  that  each  professor  entertained  all  the  stu- 
dents during  each  course.  I  do  not  recollect  being  in  Pro- 
fessor Hare's  house  but  once,  or  ever  in  Professor  Rogers'. 
Wood  entertained  all  the  class  during  each  course,  but  usually 
divided  them  into  two  or  three  sections,  inviting  one  at  a  time. 
His  private  class  was  included  in  each  subdivision.  These 
social  reunions  were  very  agreeable  in  bringing  the  members 
of  the  class  together,  and  affording  them  the  opportunity  of 
meeting  the  Professors  and  of  extending  acquaintance  among 
themselves.  The  following  is  a  copy  of  an  invitation  now  in 
my  possession : 

Doctor  Wood  requests  the  pleasure  of  Mr.  Samuel  C.  Busey's  com- 
pany on  Thursday  Evening  next  at  half-past  7  o'clock. 
Tuesday,  Nov.  16,  1847. 

During  the  early  part  of  my  professional  life  I  saw  Dr. 
Wood  a  number  of  times  aud  corresponded  with  him.  On 
one  or  more  occasions  I  was  very  pleasantly  entertained  at  his 
house.  In  an  interview,  in  his  private  parlor  at  the  National 
Hotel,  in  this  city,  in  1858,  he  told  me  that  he  had  determined 
to  retire  to  private  life  when  he  reached  the  age  of  sixty -three, 
because  he  believed  that  a  man  should  cease  to  practise  and 


48  PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES. 

teach  medicine  after  that  age.  It  made  but  little  impression 
upon  me  at  that  time,  but  in  after-life,  when  the  Gov- 
ernment of  the  United  States  had  fixed  sixty-two  for  the  Il^avy 
and  sixty-four  for  the  Army  as  the  age  of  retirement  of  its 
military  officers,  and  I  had  learned  from  Braxton  Hicks  that 
sixty-four  was  the  age  of  retirement  of  medical  men  from  the 
London  Hospitals,  except  in  those  cases  where  some  special 
endowment  had  been  made  for  some  surgeon  or  physician, 
I  gave  the  subject  more  serious  consideration.  Yet  I  have 
not  convinced  myself  of  the  wisdom  of  complete  abandonment 
of  intellectual  pursuits  at  any  fixed  age  by  men  who  have 
devoted  their  entire  manhood  life  to  mental  occupation.  It 
has  seemed  to  me  that  a  highly  and  continuously  cultivated 
brain  is  better  preserved  in  its  intellectuality  by  continuous 
moderate  employment  than  by  idleness  and  ennui. 

Among  the  relics  of  my  college  life  now  in  my  possession 
are  engraved  likenesses  of  the  Professors  in  the  Medical  De- 
partment of  the  University,  taken  during  the  period  of  my 
attendance.  As  I  see  them  grouped  in  a  single  frame  hanging 
from  the  wall  in  my  library  I  recall  personal  recollections  of 
each  which  refresh  the  memory  of  their  staid  dignity  and 
formal  devotion  to  the  solemn  duties  of  teaching  medicine. 
They  were  professors  and  we  were  students,  between  whom 
there  was  only  the  common  ground  of  deference  to  dignity, 
learning,  and  authority.  They  are  all  dressed  in  the  conven- 
tional style  of  the  period,  each  with  a  long  neck-handkerchief 
twice  passed  around  the  neck  in  a  broad  fold,  and  tied  in  front 
in  large  double  bow-knot,  above  which  is  shown  a  high  collar 
with  points  projecting  so  far  forward  as  partially  to  cover  the 
chin  on  each  side.  Gibson  is  standing  holding  a  femur  by 
each  extremity,  intently  occupied  with  the  subject  of  his 
lecture ;  Horner  is  sitting  in  his  study  calmly  inspecting  an 
anatomical  specimen  on  the  table  before  him  ;  Chapman,  with 
his  white  silk  neck-handkerchief,  has  just  raised  his  spectacles 
to  his  forehead  and  his  countenance  is  gleaming  with  the  joke 
his  lips  are  set  to  tell — it  is  doubtless  one  of  his  best,  and 


PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES. 


49 


noted  on  the  margin  of  the  manuscript  lying  before  liim  ; 
Wood  seems  to  be  sitting  where  I  found  him  when  I  sought 
the  privilege  of  his  mastership,  and  is  telling  me  of  the 
requirements  of  his  private  pupils  ;  Hare  looks  as  unhappy 
in  the  picture  as  when  trying  to  explain  to  the  class  some 
abstruse  problem  of  experimental  chemistry  ;  Jackson  has 
just  entered  the  lecture-room,  and  paused  a  moment  to  select 
the  opening  sentence  of  his  lecture,  which  will  be  delivered 
with  the  fervor  of  the  enthusiast  who  feels  that  he  knows  it 
all,  and  no  one  will  question  his  conclusions ;  Hodge  is  grave, 
profoundly  so,  and  deep  in  reflections,  his  thoughtful  face 
seeming  to  express  in  every  lineament  the  abstraction  of  a 
mind  occupied  with  the  solution  of  some  engrossing  problem; 
and  Rogers  is  in  a  contemplative  mood,  satisfied  with  himself 
and  willing  to  take  the  world  as  he  finds  it. 

I  have  also  some  of  the  tickets  which  were  delivered  to 
students  on  payment  of  the  lecture  fees.  It  was  the  custom 
then  lor  each  professor  to  receipt  for  the  fee  for  the  course, 
which  had  to  be  paid  directly  to  him,  by  delivering  to  the 
student  a  ticket,  of  which  the  following  are  facsimile  repro- 
ductions : 


ii^M"^ 


t^^j^/v  (gY^/zr-r//  /y/'y,'y/ry  ^///y:4^y  '4/^^, 

4 


50 


PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES. 


\  Fz:z7zrs7i.v^xrzA  xzosfit^i.. 

\  having  paid  Ten  Dollars  for  the  usf  of  Ihe^J'ennsylvania  Hospital,  is 
(   entitled-  to  the  privilege  of  attending  the  practice  thereof,  and  to  the 

>  use  of  the  Medical  Library  for  ane  yr.ar 
\        y/^        mo.    /y,   184/ y 

>  To  the  Librarian 
1     of  the  Hospital. 

'  Thi»Cenificate  not  to  be  TRANSFERRED  or  LENT,  under  penally  of  losing  the  Privilege. 


rs 


PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES. 


51 


FI1MH§¥ILTAMIIA  HO^FOTAILc 


In  Medicine  \^^  ^^  PEPPER,  M.  D. 

in  iVieaicine,  ^         ^    ^    GERHARD,  M.  D. 

In  Surcerv    ^  ^^^  ^-  ^^  MORRIS,  M.  D. 
in  fcurgery,  ^        -^    PEACE,  M.  D. 

tj'^^- --/^fc....jfKtt^*^...i^../?ir^.7-- 


52 


PERS  ON  A  L  REMINISCENCES. 


^ 


RECAPITULATORY  LECTURES 


ON 


U r;» ■■•■■■  "^ •:•■,■■'»■■  r* '■■; I i  ■  1 


INSTITUTES, 


JOHN   J.   HBSSE,  M.  D. 


184/^ 


^—r: 


t^W-    K.yfWT'...^^^^*T^^^^^^?^^^!. 


A^X^ 


PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES.  53 

Of  the  class  (1848)  iu  which  I  graduated,  and  Wood's  pri- 
vate class,  only  the  following  ten  are  known  to  me  to  be  now 
living  :  Henry  T.  Coffey,  Cornelius  G.  Comegys,  Cornelius 
Kollock,  Daniel  A.  Langhorne,  Edwin  S.  Lemoine,  William 
K.  Mehaffey,  Edward  Shippen,  William  Hunt,  Claudius  H. 
Mastin,  and  William  L.  Xichol,  of  whom  Langhorne,  Le- 
moine, Hunt,  and  Mastin  were  private  students  of  Professor 
G.  B.  Wood. 


CHAPTER    IV. 

R.  K.  Stone.  His  Friendship  and  Generous  Conduct.  Beginning  Prac- 
tice. Reminiscences  of  the  Beginning.  First  Patients.  Condition 
of  City.  Dr.  B.  Madame  Anne  Royal.  Hagel's  Row.  Old  Mrs. 
Cratty.  An  Oddity.  Other  Noted  Personages.  Society.  Fashion- 
able Promenade  1848-58.  Pennsylvania  Avenue.  Beau  Hickman. 
Felix  K.  McConnell. 

Foe  any  reputation  which  I  may  leave  behind  me  for 
fluency  of  speech  and  readiness  in  debate  I  owe  to  Robert 
King  Stone.  He  and  I  and  many  others  were  members  of 
the  Pathological  Society,  reorganized  in  July,  1852.  For 
several  years  thereafter  it  was  a  very  active  medical  society. 
At  its  weekly  meetings,  which  were  devoted  exclusively  to 
the  presentation  and  discussion  of  medical  subjects,  he  was  a 
very  active  participant,  generally  taking  a  prominent  part  in 
the  discussions.  He  spoke  with  great  ease  and  fluency,  and 
was  always  interesting  and  instructive.  I  was  a  quiet  and 
silent  listener  for  a  year  or  more.  During  a  casual  and 
friendly  visit  to  him  at  his  office,  in  the  same  room  and 
building  now  occupied  by  his  son,  he  remonstrated  with  me 
because  I  had  not  taken  any  part  in  the  literary  and  scientific 
exercises  of  the  society,  and  after  my  response  that  I  would 
make  any  sacrifice  to  acquire  his  capacity  to  talk  and  discuss  sub- 
jects before  the  society,  he  said,  addressing  me  in  his  familiar 
and  friendly  way,  calling  me,  as  was  his  custom,  by  my  Chris- 
tian name,  "  The  secret  lies  in  two  things :  first,  know  what 
you  intend  to  say,  and,  secondly,  forget  yourself."  I  left  his 
presence  profoundly  impressed  with  these  words,  and  resolved 
to  make  the  effort.  Not  long  afterward  I  made  my  maiden 
effort  with  an  essay  on  "The  Treatment  of  Ascites  with  Ela- 
terium,"  which  was  severely  criticised  by  Dr.  Wotherspoon,  a 
distinguished  surgeon  in  the  Army,  who  was  noted  for  his 


PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES.  55 

harsh  criticism  when  he  felt  he  had  a  favorable  opportunity. 
Fired  by  an  enthusiasm  seeking  success,  and  animated  by  a 
will  as  indomitable  as  it  was  fearless,  I  struck  back,  not  only 
forgetting  myself,  but  equally  oblivious  of  what  and  how  I 
said  it,  nevertheless  receiving  the  commendation  of  Stone  and 
others.  Soon  after  (1853)  I  was  elected  to  a  professorship  in 
the  Medical  Department  of  Georgetown  College,  and  with  it 
came  an  enlarged  opportunity  for  didactic  experience. 

Again,  his  generous  friendship  was  exhibited  in  another  but 
different  aspect,  and  with  such  frankness  and  exact  justice  that 
I  cannot  omit  its  record  in  these  reminiscences  of  that  early 
date,  when  young  physicians  needed  protection  from  the 
austere  surroundings  of  a  local  code  of  ethics  which  con- 
fronted them  at  every  step  in  the  pursuit  of  their  profession. 
The  instance  is  as  follows  : 

I  was  hurriedly  summoned  during  a  hot  summer  day  to  see 
Labbe,  who  had  been  suddenly  taken  ill  in  the  Law  Library 
of  the  Capitol.  I  made  the  diagnosis  of  cerebral  congestion, 
and  promptly  bled  him  ;  then  accompanied  him  in  a  rude 
vehicle  to  his  lodgings  on  Pennsylvania  Avenue  opposite  The 
City,  now  Willard's  Hotel,  where  Drs.  Thomas  Miller  and 
Stone  were  awaiting  his  arrival.  They  disapproved  the  diag- 
nosis and  treatment,  but  invited  me  to  meet  them  at  every 
visit  until  the  conclusion  of  the  case.  Stone  was  less  positive 
than  Miller  in  disapproval,  and  usually  at  the  consultation 
would  recur  to  the  difference  of  opinion,  and  frankly  state  his 
doubts  in  regard  to  the  correctness  of  either.  The  consulta- 
tions were  conducted  with  the  usual  courtesy,  reserve,  and 
dignity  of  the  ethical  formalities  of  that  date,  but  were  not 
free  from  painful  apprehension  on  my  part,  inasmuch  as  I 
was  compelled  to  accept  quietly  the  expressions  of  regret  for 
the  unfortunate  venesection.  The  patient  died  without  regain- 
ing consciousness.  Stone  made  an  autopsy,  to  which  I  was 
invited,  but  was  not  present.  He,  however,  sought  me  to  tell 
me  of  the  result,  and,  with  that  frankness  and  cordiality  for 
which  he  was  so  distinguished,  to  confess  his  mistake  and  to 


56  PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES. 

approve  my  course.  To  you,  in  the  light  of  the  present 
courtesies  of  the  profession  and  intelligence  of  the  community, 
this  circumstance  may  seem  too  trivial  to  narrate  before  this 
audience ;  but  in  the  early  days  of  my  professional  life,  when 
beginners  were  not  supposed  to  know  anything,  and  not  per- 
mitted to  enter  the  chamber  of  a  lady,  except  in  cases  of  des- 
perate emergency,  such  an  indorsement  by  a  senior,  high  in 
professional  and  social  life,  known  and  loved  by  a  very  large 
circle  of  the  elite  and  best-informed  people  of  the  city  as  a 
man  of  the  highest  honor  and  unimpeachable  integrity,  was 
so  rare  and  valuable  that  you  should  not  be  surprised  that  I 
should  cherish  his  friendship  and  seize  this  opportunity  to 
record  my  affectionate  gratitude. 

How  great  the  contrast  with  another,  in  the  case  of  a  man 
who  had  lived  beyond  his  time  to  whom  I  was  as  hurriedly 
called  soon  after,  and  in  whom  I  found  the  clinical  picture  of 
profuse  cerebral  hemorrhage  so  clearly  defined  that  even  such 
a  novice  as  myself  could  not  fail  to  make  a  diagnosis.  As  I 
was  adjusting  the  bandage  about  the  arm,  his  physician  pre- 
cipitously entered  the  room  with  the  exclamation,  "  Oh  !  you 
ought  not  to  have  bled  him  ! "  "  But,  doctor,"  I  replied,  "  I 
did  not  get  any  blood."  To  which  he  replied,  in  a  less  audi- 
ble voice,  "  But  the  click  of  that  spring  lancet  does  harm  in 
such  cases  " — a  fact  I  had  not  then  nor  have  I  since  learned. 
I  completed  the  adjustment  of  the  compress  and  bandage,  and 
then,  bidding  the  dying  man  and  his  doctor  good-afternoon, 
left  him  to  worry  out  the  few  remaining  hours  of  that  old 
and  dying  man  with  his  impressive  but  futile  efforts  to  dis- 
credit me  and  exalt  himself.  I  loved  him  less,  but  Stone 
all  the  more,  "  for  evermore."  He,  too,  has  gone  to  the 
realms  from  which  no  traveller  returns,  and  the  pleasant  rela- 
tions of  after-life  have  long  since  obliterated  the  memory  of 
the  passion  of  that  discourteous  consultation.     • 

Robert  King  Stone  was  a  broad-minded,  open-hearted,  gen- 
erous, and  forgiving  man,  who  met  everybody  with  a  cordial 
greeting  and  salutation  which  attached  friends,  won  enemies. 


PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES.  57 

and  spread  all  around  and  about  him  the  mellow  radiance  of 
a  soul  that  was  most  happy  Avhen  making  others  happy.  Of 
his  professional  attainments  I  need  not  speak  to  you. 

You  must  pardon  me  for  the  introduction  here  of  another 
episode  of  my  early  life — earlier,  in  fact,  than  either  of  the 
foregoing.  On  a  bright  summer  Simday,  just  after  my 
return  from  church,  a  brother  entered  my  office,  Avith  a 
slam  and  a  bang,  exclaiming  with  vehemence  that  his  sister 
was  ill  and  the  family  physician  could  not  be  found.  I  hurried 
with  him  on  foot — for  it  was  before  I  could  affijrd  a  vehicle — to 
the  house,  and  was  rushed  by  the  whole  family  into  the  cham- 
ber of  the  young  patient,  and  stood  calmly  bewildered  in  the 
presence  of  the  girl  writhing  in  agony  of  such  intensity  as  I 
had  not  seen,  until  a  kind-hearted  and  venerable  old  lady 
whispered,  in  a  soft,  almost  inaudible  voice,  fearing  lest  some- 
one else  might  hear  her  disclosure  of  a  profound  secret,  that  it 
was  her  monthly  period.  It  was  my  first  call  to  a  family  in 
high  social  life,  and,  realizing  the  importance  of  giving  relief 
before  the  arrival  of  the  family  doctor,  I  grasped  the  oppor- 
tunity with  alacrity.  Relief  came  promptly  from  a  dose  of 
Parrish's  camphor  mixture  and  a  solution  of  the  citrate  of 
morphia,  a  mixture  1  had  quite  frequently  employed  in  cases 
of  ordinary  belly-ache  among  that  class  of  people  who  sent  for 
me  because  they  could  get  no  other  physician.  The  next  day 
her  physician,  whom  I  had  not  met  before,  called,  kindly 
thanked  me  for  my  services,  and  quietly  inquired  the  compo- 
sition of  my  prescription,  adding  that  he  had  never  succeeded 
in  giving  such  speedy  and  satisfactor}-  relief.  I  accepted  the 
congratulations,  but  did  not  disclose  the  fact  that  he  would 
probably  have  found  me  in  the  house  fuming  and  sweating 
over  signal  failure  but  for  the  diagnosis  which  the  good  old 
lady  had  made  for  me. 

Another  instance  will  illustrate  the  occasional  expediency  of 
delay  and  artifice  to  cover  mistake.  It  was,  perhaps,  my  first 
night-call.  The  patient  was  an  elderly  w^oman.  I  was 
ushered  into  the  room,  filled  with  a  battalion  of  relatives  and 


58  PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES. 

sympathizing  friends,  each  one  of  whom  was  begging  for 
immediate  relief  for  the  poor  woman,  who  was  gasping  for 
breath  and  moaning  in  a  monotone  of  distress,  with  heaving 
chest  and  occasional  long-drawn  sighs,  with  arms  uplifted  and 
then  falling  in  lifeless  relaxation  to  the  bed,  as  if  she  was  in 
the  despair  of  expected  .immediate  dissolution.  I  mistook 
the  case  for  one  of  hysteria,  and  prescribed  the  milk  of  asa- 
foetida.  The  druggist  was  slow,  very  slow,  to  prepare  the 
medicine.  Messenger  after  messenger  was  dispatched,  but 
nothing  could  arouse  the  drowsy  drug  clerk  to  the  momentous 
exigency.  During  the  long  and  anxious  suspense  suggestion 
after  suggestion  came  leaping  into  my  ears,  and  remedies  from 
hither  and  thither  were  proffered  in  rapid  and  ludicrous  suc- 
cession by  the  drivelling  old  women  crowding  about  me.  The 
tardy  druggist,  popularly  known  as  "  hop-and-go-skip,"  who, 
like  his  son,  not  unknown  to  you,  combined  two  systems  in 
one  occupation,  was  consigned  to  "  demnition  bow-wows," 
but  he  proved  to  be  my  good  friend  on  that  memorable  night. 
His  delay  saved  me  from  the  blunder  of  forcing  down  the 
throat  of  that  poor  woman  the  nauseous  and  stinking  drug, 
and  taught  me  a  lesson  of  self-control  which  I  have  never 
forgotten.  Before  the  messenger  thrust  the  medicine  into  my 
hand  I  had  learned  that  the  case  was  one  of  some  chronic 
pulmonary  disease,  and  that  the  exciting  scene  had  been  sud- 
denly induced  by  some  inexplicable  alarm.  I  had  become 
more  concerned  in  devising  some  method  of  disposing  of  the 
medicine  before  its  odor  would  disclose  its  nature  and  my 
ignorance  to  the  host  of  young  and  old  gossipy  women,  who 
knew  more  of  "  asfedity  "  and  "  hitrlkes  "  than  I  did.  In 
the  desperate  dilemma  to  conceal  the  drug  and  to  divert  the 
importunities  to  administer  a  dose  I  counted  the  pulse  at  one 
wrist  and  then  at  the  other,  never  making  two  counts  the 
same,  until  the  pewter  spoon  intuitively  fell  from  the  window 
sill,  and  whilst  the  multitude  of  willing  friends  were  looking 
for  another  or  some  other  measure  of  the  healing  draught  the 
bottle  toppled  off  the  same  slippery  sill  and  crashed  upon  the 


PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES.  59 

earth  helow.  In  innocent  disguise  of  calm  surprise  I  dis- 
patched a  messenger  with  another  prescription,  of  which  a 
single  dose  sufficed  to  complete  the  quiet  which  wearied 
nature  had  so  nearly  accomplished.  Soon  thereafter  I  left 
the  house  to  seek  repose  in  the  slumber  of  an  early  morning 
nap.  You  can  imagine  the  pleasure  I  derived  from  the 
recitals  of  the  unfortunate  mishaps  and  accidents  which  occa- 
sioned the  delay  in  giving  relief  and  snatching  the  woman 
from  death's  cold  grasp,  and  with  what  joy  I  absorbed  the 
commendations  of  my  patient  forbearance  and  good  physick. 
One  of  those  present  on  that  eventful  night  has  been  since, 
and  is  now  the  only  surviving  patient  of  that  early  date. 
Strange  as  it  may  seem,  this  case  proved  a  very  fortunate  one 
for  me,  as  the  empty  purse  soon  began  to  feel  the  plethora  of 
an  enlarged  and  more  remunerative  clientele. 

The  reference  to  the  discrimination  against  unmarried 
young  men  needs  more  than  a  passing  notice.  It  was  quite 
a  common  practice  with  very  many  families  of  high  respect- 
ability to  employ  a  young  physician  to  attend  the  daddies  and 
children,  but  pregnant  mothers  and  girls  at  and  after  puberty 
were  excluded  from  his  observation,  however  trivial  their 
indisposition.  A  mother  might  occasionally,  as  a  special 
favor  to  a  favorite,  accept  a  dose  of  calomel,  senna  and 
manna,  or  quinine,  remedies  about  which  she  claimed  to 
know  as  much  or  more  than  he  could  know.  Pregnant 
women  and  others  of  the  same  sex,  who  believed  in  the 
eliminating  efficacy  of  periodical  and  spring  blood-lettings, 
might  invite  him  to  the  perfunctory  performance  of  venesec- 
tion, and  grudgingly  pay  the  fee  for  a  service  which  they  con- 
sidered complimentary.  The  family  doctor,  now  a  relic  of  the 
almost  forgotten  past,  claimed  vested  rights  in  families,  and 
was  intrenched  in  their  confiding  affection  to  a  degree  propor- 
tionate to  the  duration  of  professional  services,  however  inter- 
mitting such  services  may  have  been.  The  austere  observance 
and  requirements  of  somewhat  contradictory  local  and  general 
codes  of  ethics  frequently  confronted  the  beginner  in  the  per- 


60  PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES. 

formance  of  such  vicarious  and  perfunctory  services.  The 
lines  between  regular  and  irregular  methods  were  so  sharply 
drawn  that  it  was  not  always  easy  to  avoid  or  elude  the  ragged 
edge  of  discontent  and  dissatisfaction  ;  nevertheless,  then  as 
now,  those  who  conformed  to  the  customs  and  courtesies  of 
the  ethical  discipline  of  that  period  more  surely  commanded 
the  respect  and  good-will  of  their  seniors  and  confreres.  The 
accession  of  ten  new  men  to  the  membership  of  the  Medical 
Society  of  the  District  of  Columbia  in  two  years  was  some- 
thing more  than  a  ripple  in  the  life-history  of  the  profession 
in  this  city.  Now  double  or  treble  that  number  yearly  does 
not  disturb  the  equanimity  of  the  most  intense  devotee  of 
ethics. 

A  few  of  the  ten^  who  settled  here  in  1848-49  had  a  more 
fortunate  beginning.  They  either  moved  from  another  and 
less  advantageous  locality,  or  were  backed  by  an  influential 
family  or  prosperous  father,  or  began  under  cover  and  pro- 
tection of  some  established  physician.  Of  the  ten  but  two — 
Drs.  Dyer  and  myself — are  living  now,  and  not  one  of  the 
dead  has  left  the  record  of  a  single  contribution  to  medical 
science.  As  sad  as  this  commentary  is,  I  cannot  omit  refer- 
ence to  Drs.  Dove  and  Howard,  who  are  well  remembered  by 
some  of  you  and  by  very  many  citizens.  They  were  the 
peers  of  their  contemporaries  in  all  that  pertains  to  the  skilful 
and  conscientious  practice  of  medicine,  alike  honorable  in  all 
the  relations  of  citizen,  husband,  friend,  and  physician. 

It  may  be  interesting  to  some  of  my  young  contemporaries 
to  know  that  I  married  at  the  beginning  of  the  second  year 
of  professional  life,  on  the  first  day  of  May,  1849,  and,  of 
course,  the  lady  to  whom  I  have  previously  referred.  Soon 
after  I  bought  a  building-lot,  for  which  I  paid  five  cents  per 
square  foot,  and  commenced  the  erection  of  a  dwelling-house, 
into  which  we  moved  in  the  spring  of  1850.     The  house  and 


1  Drs.  George  M.  Dove,  John  I.  Dyer,  Joseph  I.  Edelin,  Hamilton  P.  Howard,  Alfred 
H.  Lee,  William  McTucker,  Samuel  Tyson,  Joseph  Walsh,  William  H.  Saunders,  and 
Samuel  C.  Busey. 


PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES.  Q\ 

lot  cost  me  something  less  than  two  thousand  dollars,  five 
hundred  of  which  I  borrowed  from  a  friend,  that  I  might 
reserve  so  much  of  my  capital  to  enable  me  to  pay  cash  for 
the  necessary  furniture.  The  cash  receipts  of  my  first  year's 
practice  amounted  to  the  sum  of  three  hundred  and  thirty- 
three  dollars,  and  the  second  year — first  year  after  marriage 
— to  eight  hundred  dollars.  Since  then  I  have  never  failed 
to  earn  a  respectable  living  and  to  accumulate  something, 
either  in  the  form  of  some  addition  to  my  household  comforts 
and  domestic  luxuries,  or  a  moderate  balance  in  my  bank 
account,  which  I  held  in  reserve  for  additional  annual  or 
semi-annual  balances. 

It  seems  to  me  now,  as  it  has  throughout  the  years  since  I 
left  that  cozy  cottage  home  (1858)  on  First  Street,  S.  E.,  that 
I  was  as  comfortable,  happy,  and  contented  with  my  moderate 
annual  income  as  I  have  been  since  in  a  more  spacious  and 
costly  dwelling.  With  increasing  income  have  come  addi- 
tional wants,  higher  prices  for  the  necessaries  of  life,  and 
more  luxurious  habits  of  living,  together  with  the  incidental 
expenses  of  a  progressive  and  more  expansive  civilization. 
Perhaps  I  ought  to  add  that  twenty  years  after  it  was  built 
the  Government  took,  by  condemnation,  my  house  and  lot,  for 
which  I  was  paid  the  sura  of  eleven  thousand  and  five  hun- 
dred dollars. 

During  this  period  prescription  blanks  were  not  used. 
Some  physicians  supplied  themselves  with  slips  of  paper, 
but  others  did  not  carry  with  them  either  paper  or  pencil. 
I  have  seen  prescriptions  written  upon  the  margin  of  a  news- 
paper, and,  I  believe,  I  was  the  first  physician  in  this  city  to 
write  the  directions  for  the  administration  of  the  medicine 
upon  the  prescription.  To  this  fact  my  attention  was  called 
by  a  very  intelligent  druggist  named  Schwartz,  whose  store 
was  located  on  Pennsylvania  Avenue  between  Second  and 
Third  Streets,  N.  W.,  who  informed  me  that  a  prescription 
of  mine  was  the  first  he  had  ever  seen  with  the  written  direc- 
tions.    The  use  of  prescription  blanks  in  this  city  was  an 


62  PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES. 

outgrowth  of  the  war,  and  probably  originated  with  the 
druggists  as  an  advertisement  to  the  patrons  of  those  physi- 
cians who  might  accept  and  use  such  as  were  supplied  by 
them.  A  few  never  accepted  such  generous  donations,  but 
had  printed  their  own  blanks.  Now  very  few,  if  any,  use 
blanks  with  druggists'  advertisement  indorsements. 

The  style  of  vehicle  used  by  physicians  was  so  conventional 
that  it  was  regarded  by  the  community  as  a  sign  distinctly 
distinguishing  a  doctor  from  other  classes  of  citizens  who 
might  own  a  horse  and  vehicle.  Every  such  vehicle  was 
open  in  front,  and  the  doctor  was  exposed  to  the  wet  and 
cold.  With  few  exceptions  they  drove  themselves,  but  each 
was  usually  accompanied  by  a  negro  boy,  dressed  as  he  might 
please,  and  asleep  most  of  the  time.  Beginners  went  on  foot ; 
the  horse  and  buggy  were  evidence  of  prosperity,  and  when 
the  boy  was  substituted  for  the  weight  and  rein,  success 
was  established.  A  wife  and  the  horse  and  buggy  were  very 
important  addenda  to  the  young  physician's  armamentarium, 
and  the  more  children  that  were  born  and  raised,  the  greater 
was  his  reputation  for  skill  in  the  treatment  of  the  diseases  of 
infancy  and  childhood,  notwithstanding  the  fact  that  some 
other  doctor  deserved  the  credit  for  the  healthfulness  of  the 
family.  If  a  young  physician  should  have  been  so  fortunate 
as  to  have  twins  born  unto  him,  the  sooner  did  he  acquire  the 
dignity  and  standing  of  the  family  physician.  The  prurient 
etiquette  and  conventional  ceremony  of  polite  society  not  only 
interposed  numerous  obstacles  to  his  success,  but  so  magnified 
the  significance  of  matters  of  trivial  concern  that  progress  was 
impeded  all  along  the  line  of  his  professional  life. 

I  have  narrated  these  incidents  of  my  early  professional 
life  in  this  city  that  I  might  exhibit  the  contrast  in  the  life  of 
the  beginner  then  and  now.  There  were  no  specialisms  in 
those  days  through  which  the  tyro  could  introduce  himself  to 
public  confidence  and  emolument.  Every  young  doctor  had 
to  take  what  he  could  get,  and  many  times  go  hungry  for  a 
good,  solid  meal.     Night  and  day  he  had  to  plod  his  way  in 


PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES.  63 

hail  and  storm,  rain  or  sunshine,  through  streets,  alleys,  and 
by-ways,  sometimes  so  black  with  darkness  that  eyes  were 
most  useful  when  closed,  or  so  dimly  lighted  with  lard-oil 
lamps  so  remotely  separated  that  they  seemed  like  ignes  fatui 
enticing  one  into  the  dismal  realms  of  hobgoblins  and  gliosts, 
or,  perchance,  in  some  localities,  now  marked  by  well-paved 
streets  and  avenues  adorned  on  either  side  with  palatial  resi- 
dences, along  the  pathways  trodden  only  by  the  beasts  of  the 
field.  Duty  not  less  averse  than  inexorable,  which  sent  through 
the  victim's  frame  the  shivering  fear  of  reproach,  commanded 
him  to  respond  to  every  call  for  help  from  even  the  most 
abject  and  squalid  pauper  or  most  debauched  wretch.  Money 
came  mostly  in  dollar  fees,  and  only  then  when  some  poor 
woman,  in  the  ecstasy  of  a  momentary  thankfulness,  would 
dole  out  the  token  of  her  affectionate  gratitude. 

The  prescribed  fee  for  each  visit  was  one  dollar.  Many 
times  the  bill  was  settled  with  a  fraction,  and  often  a  small 
fraction,  of  the  amount ;  in  fact,  the  beginner  took  whatever 
he  could  get,  and  was  glad  to  receive  such  portion,  however 
large  or  small  the  bill  for  attendance  might  be.  In  the  slow 
progress  of  success  after  one  or  more  years  of  weary  effort 
and  anxious  waiting,  there  would  come,  now  and  then,  a  fee 
that  would  startle  the  impecunious  pocket  and  dissipate  for 
the  time  being  every  doubt  and  fear.  The  women,  then 
as  now,  were  more  honest  and  considerate  of  physicians  than 
men.  The  poorest  wife  would  provide  for  the  compensation 
of  her  accoucheur.  After  her  travail  was  over,  and  he  was 
ready  to  leave  the  house,  she  would  draw  from  under  her 
pillow  a  package,  from  which  she  would  take  the  gold  coin, 
in  amount  usually  ten  dollars,  and  hand  it  to  him  with  the 
warmest  expression  of  gratitude,  in  such  words  and  with  such 
emphasis  to  which  only  a  woman  in  like  condition  can  give 
utterance.  I  do  not  recall  the  loss  of  an  obstetric  fee  in 
whole  except  from  women  far  removed  from  the  poor  and 
gratefid  class.  My  first  fee  of  five  dollars  for  a  single  visit 
was  a  great  surprise  to  me.     The  ladies  of  one  of  the  most 


64  PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES. 

prominent  aud  wealthy  families  were  driving  for  pleasure,  the 
horses  ran  away,  and  they  were  thrown  out  near  my  office, 
one  of  them  receiving  a  slight  scalp  wound,  which  I  dressed, 
and  sent  her  back  to  her  home  on  Madison  Place,  now  owned 
and  occupied  by  Senator  Cameron.  In  the  late  afternoon  of 
the  same  day  a  servant-man  in  livery  handed  me  a  note 
enclosing  a  five-dollar  bill,  with  her  thanks,  and  stating  that 
it  was  the  amount  which  Dr.  Thomas  Miller,  her  family  phy- 
sician, had  informed  her  was  the  proper  compensation  for  the 
service.  In  after-years  I  knew  this  distinguished  lady  very 
well,  and  learned  to  honor  her  for  her  charming  and  noble 
qualities  of  heart  and  mind. 

There  were  then  but  two  streets  that  were  even  partly 
paved,  but  few  sidewalks  paved  beyond  the  centre  of  the  city, 
they  being  for  the  most  part  improved  with  a  midway  ridge 
of  gravel  or  coal-ashes ;  but  there  were  long  stretches  of  zig- 
zag paths  along  which  pedestrians  could  walk  only  in  single 
file.  There  were  no  telephones,  street  tramways,  nor  cable  or 
trolley  systems  of  rapid  transit  to  fill  the  wards  of  an  emer- 
gency hospital  and  encourage  the  incidental  sciences  of  em- 
balming and  undertaking.  Street  transportation  was  limited 
to  a  few  hotel  omnibuses,  through  line  coaches  between  the 
Baltimore  and  Ohio  depot  and  the  river  boats,  a  few  hack- 
ney carriages,  and  a  corps  of  night-liners,  as  now.  From  the 
Capitol  to  Georgetown  several  antiquated  busses  ran  at  irreg- 
ular intervals  along  Pennsylvania  Avenue.  The  fare  for  a 
ride  each  way  for  each  passenger  was  two  fip-penny  bits  or 
one  eleven-penny  bit.  "  Shanks'  mare"  was  the  most  popular 
conveyance,  and  my  bills  for  fare  in  shoes  and  leg-tire  footed 
up  in  ominous  aggregate.  A  colored  nurse  or  maid  could  not 
get  a  ride  at  any  price  unless  she  had  somebody's  white  baby 
in  her  lap. 

Some  of  you  will  doubt  the  allusion  to  the  beasts  of  the 
field.  When  I  came  here,  and  for  some  years  afterward, 
back-yards  were  usually  decorated  with  wooden  necessaries, 
pig-styes,  cow-sheds,   and    pens  for  the  gangs   of  unyoked 


PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES.  65 

geese,  Dui-ing  the  day  the  animals  and  fowls  roamed  at  will 
in  lordly  insolence,  singly  or  in  herds  and  flocks,  through  the 
streets  and  over  the  fields.  Garbage  was  thrown  into  the 
carriage-ways  or  back  alleys,  and  swine  were  the  privileged 
and  protected  public  scavengers.  To  jostle  against  or  drive 
over  one  of  these  municipal  functionaries  when  out  on  his 
tour  of  sanitary  inspection  incurred  a  cash  penalty  or  brief 
servitude  in  the  work-house.  The  swine  nuisance  dominated 
the  city  authorities  until  a  gentleman  was  knocked  down  and 
killed  on  E  Street,  in  front  of  the  General  Post-office,  by  one 
running  between  his  legs ;  and  the  family  milch  cows  were 
finally  driven  to  the  shambles  by  the  more  economical  and 
more  adulterated  milk  supplies  from  the  dairy  farms  in 
Maryland  and  Virginia.  The  goose  industry  bid  defiance  to 
every  protest  until  the  robber  bands  learned  the  flavor  of 
their  flesh.  During  those  early  days  I  trudged  on  foot, 
through  sunshine  and  shower,  along  the  well-beaten  paths, 
for  short  cuts  across  the  fields  and  through  the  slashes,  in 
search  of  some  lonely  hut  situated  over  yonder,  behind,  or 
near  by  some  other  equally  undefined  locality,  here  and  there 
along  the  way  driving  a  herd  of  swine  from  their  mire  or 
hustling  away  from  the  corporation  bulls  on  their  semi-annual 
visits  at  the  expense  of  the  city's  treasury. 

Then  the  war  came,  and  with  it  a  transformation  not  less 
surprising  than  the  primitive  methods  and  conditions  to  which 
I  have  referred.  The  barren  farm  and  pasture  lands  were 
occupied  with  encampments,  fortifications,  parade  grounds,  hos- 
pitals, wagon-yards,  mule-pens,  and  other  munitions  of  war- 
fare. The  streets  were  in  continuous  martial  array  with  troops 
equipped  for  the  field.  In  brief,  the  city  was  one  great 
impregnable  fortress,  protecting  a  government  that  never 
for  one  moment  faltered  in  courage  or  paused  in  prosecution. 
With  these  stupendous  preparations  and  masses  of  troops 
there  came  the  omnium  gatherum  of  contrabands,  refugees, 
scalawags,  camp-followers,  tramps,  substitute  brokers,  wild- 
cat-money changers,  fiat-money  people,  office-seekers,  as  now, 

5 


QQ  PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES. 

and,  last  but  not  least,  the  croakers  who  lived  upon  the  inno- 
cent credulity  of  timid  women  and  cowardice  of  malingerers 
who  wanted  war,  but  somebody  else  to  do  the  fighting.  The 
croaker  tarries  with  us  yet  and  continues,  like  "  querulous 
frogs  in  muddy  pools,"  to  croak.  Nevertheless,  those  who 
saw  the  city  then  will  mark  the  contrast  now.  Peace  reigns 
where  martial  law  dominated.  Progress  and  development 
have  marked  every  decade  of  the  city's  history  since  the  close 
of  the  war.  Now  go  where  you  may  please  along  these  beau- 
tiful streets,  these  avenues  of  foliage  trees,  or  out  upon  the 
hill-tops  that  environ  the  city,  and  the  prospect  and  landscape 
will  leave  the  memory  of  beauty  in  nature  and  excellence  in 
art.  The  monument  in  honor  of  him  whose  name  the  city 
bears  rises  from  the  lowlands  high  into  space  above,  as  the 
nation's  memorial  to  him  who  was  "first  in  war,  first  in 
peace,  and  first  in  the  hearts  of  his  countrymen ; "  the  Cap- 
itol, in  which  assemble  annually  the  highest  tribunals  of 
legislation  and  justice,  stands,  in  beauty  and  perfection  of 
architectural  finish,  above  the  rising  and  setting  sun,  in  token 
of  the  supreme  majesty  of  a  united  people ;  the  new  Library 
Building,  approaching  completion,  with  its  gold-gilded  dome 
reflecting  and  diffusing  the  rays  of  sunlight  and  sun  life  in 
emblematic  dissemination  of  the  knowledge  to  be  stored 
within  its  granite  walls  ;  the  new  Naval  Observatory,  far 
away  from  the  busy  mart  and  travel,  toward  the  western 
limits  of  the  city,  is  a  fitting  compliment  to  that  branch  of 
the  service  which  in  the  coming  future  will  make  the  nation 
the  master  of  the  seas ;  and  right  here  in  the  open  park,  near 
by,  the  historic  mansion,  with  its  walls  hanging  in  portraiture 
of  the  men  who  have  filled  the  highest  office  in  the  gift  of  a 
great  and  free  people ;  and  then,  too,  on  the  highland  beyond 
the  Potomac,  overlooking  the  city,  is  the  bivouac  of  seventeen 
thousand  dead,  whose  glory  will  never  fade.  All  these,  with 
many  other  commemorative  memorials,  are  but  the  symbols 
of  the  nation's  pride,  wealth,  gratitude,  prowess,  and  majesty. 
There  were,  then  as  now,  some  odd  characters  engaged  in 


PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES.  67 

the  strife  of  ambition  and  professional  success.  Several  clays 
after  I  had  taken  possession  of  my  office  and  arranged  my 
scanty  armamentarium,  the  kind-hearted  apothecary,  more 
concerned  in  the  contemplated  profits  of  my  good-will  than 
in  my  pecuniary  needs,  secured  my  first  patient,  a  very  re- 
spectable colored  woman,  who  had  fallen  in  a  fit.  As  I  fol- 
lowed the  messenger,  in  profound  reflection  on  the  nature  and 
treatment  of  fits,  some  young  ladies  whom  I  had  met  taunted 
me  with  the  salutation,  "  So  glad  you  have  gotten  a  patient." 
Bowing  in  silent  assent,  I  continued  on  my  errand  of  mercy  and 
fits.  I  had  heard  of  children  in  fits — epileptic  and  apoplectic 
fits,  fits  of  indigestion,  bad  temper  and  the  like,  hysterical  and 
"  conniption "  fits — but  I  had  never  seen  a  real,  genuine. 
Simon-pure  fit.  I  reached  the  house  a  long  time  before  I 
reached  a  conclusion  in  regard  to  the  nature  of  the  fits.  The 
patient  was  lying  upon  the  floor,  frothing  at  the  mouth,  breath- 
ing badly  or  not  at  all,  with  some  jerking  of  the  arms.  I 
met  there  for  the  first  time  Madame  Anne  Royall,  a  noted 
character  of  that  period,  who  was  dangling  around  the  room 
like  "  a  pea  on  a  hot  shovel,"  with  her  nether  garment  hang- 
ing loosely  about  her  shoulders,  which,  as  it  would  slip,  she 
would  catch  by  one  hand  to  prevent  its  falling  below  her 
rotund  chest.  Whilst  looking,  interrogating,  thinking,  and 
wondering  what  kind  of  a  fit  it  was,  and  the  composition  of 
the  recipe  I  should  send  the  druggist  in  waiting  for  the  first 
profit  of  my  good- will  to  replenish  the  empty  tin-box,  Madame 
informed  me  of  the  coming  of  the  family  physician.  Look- 
ing out  into  open  space  I  could  discern  the  long,  gaunt  figure 
of  a  man  topped  off  with  a  high  hat,  worn  "at  jaunty  cock," 
clad  in  the  sombre  dress  of  profound  and  sullen  woe,  with 
both  hands  thrust  to  the  bottom  of  his  breeches  pockets,  and 
the  tail  of  his  long  conventional  frock-coat  flowing  to  the 
windward,  striding  along  a  path  through  the  open  fi.eld  which 
stretched  away  toward  the  setting  sun.  As  he  approached 
nearer  I  recognized  the  form  and  visage  of  the  Beau  Brum- 
mel  of  Georgetown,   whom   I  had  often  seen  in  the  same 


68  PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES. 

burlesque  caricature  of  an  amiable,  silly,  uamby-pamby  fop- 
doodle  during  ray  residence  there  as  a  student,  but  had  not 
learned  of  his  elevation  to  the  doctorate  of  medicine.  After 
forcing  a  dose  of  the  "liquid  chemical,"  which  he  said  he 
always  carried  with  him  for  fits,  down  the  patient's  throat,  he 
entertained  me,  as  others  have  done  since  who  carry  specifics 
and  panaceas  on  the  tips  of  their  fountain  pens,  with  its  intri- 
cate composition  and  marvellous  virtues.  He  was  the  young- 
est son  of  a  distinguished  citizen  who  resided  in  a  beautiful 
suburban  villa  now  within  the  limits  of  the  city  extended. 
He  was  as  odd-looking  in  dress  and  form  as  he  was  eccentric 
in  manners  and  taste,  and  as  ignorant  of  medicine  as  the  cor- 
poration garbage  contractors  were  of  polite  literature.  Viewed 
in  profile  he  was  a  singular  composite  of  a  strangely  elongated 
figure,  with  sharp  angles  at  joint  flexures,  an  excavated  belly, 
and  neck  inclined  so  far  forward  that  his  head  could  only  be 
balanced  by  strained  elevation  of  the  chin.  The  occipito- 
mental diameter  was  so  sharply  elongated  at  both  extremities 
that  in  facial  view  the  contour  of  its  largest  circumference  was 
not  unlike  a  double-ended  canoe  with  broad  projecting  oars 
at  midway  on  either  side,  not  unlike  the  ears  of  an  ass  in  easy 
contentment.  With  a  swarthy  complexion  and  forehead  re- 
treating from  projecting  brows  which  overhung  deeply- 
sunken  eyes,  a  long  and  beaked  nose  dividing  less  prominent 
cheeks,  from  which  the  lank  jaws  extended  to  a  beardless  and 
hanging  chin,  his  expressions  gave  signs  of  such  a  composite 
disposition  only  to  be  learned  by  an  experience  which  I  did 
not  seek.  In  tout  ensemble  he  was  not  unlike  the  comic  illus- 
trations of  the  spirit  of  evil  in  joyful  glee  at  one  of  his  special 
receptions  of  fallen  mankind.  He  went  West,  and  died  on 
the  Pacific  coast.  I  doubt  if  there  is  one  present  who  ever 
saw  or  heard  of  him  but  myself,  and  I  am  quite  sure  if 
Washington  could  have  seen  this  posthumous  namesake  he 
would  have  been  more  amused  than  honored.  Perhaps  I  am 
wrong  in  committing  this  description  to  record,  but  reminis- 
cent history  must  have  its  follies.     In  justice,  however,  to 


PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES.  69 

his  memory  I  must  insert  here  the  following  flattering  refer- 
ence to  him  by  his  friend  and  patron,  Mistress  Anne  Royall, 
from  The  Huntress  of  May  20,  1848  : 

De.  B 

Our  amiable  friend  and  ^:»ro%^,  Dr.  B.,  we  fear  is  about  to  leave  ns. 
The  poor  and  the  destitute  will  grieve  for  him  sorely.  By  the  way, 
he  has  made  some  important  cures  in  this  neighborhood.    More  anon. 

Madame  Anne  Royall,  a  noted  female  celebrity  of  that  and 
earlier  times,  was  the  proprietor,  editor,  and  publisher  of  The 
Huntress,  popularly  known  and  feared  as  the  Paul  Pry  of 
Washington,  which  was  issued  "  weekly  at  $2.50  per  annum," 
from  the  office  at  the  "  corner  of  B  and  Third  Streets,"  now 
N,  E.  She  was  more  widely  noted  for  her  peculiar  system  of 
blackmailing  and  sensational  belongings  than  for  good  looks 
or  good  behavior,  A  badly  clad  and  poorly  fed  printer's 
devil,  not  out  of  his  teens,  a  lean  and  unhappy-looking  do- 
mestic, a  snarling  pet  cur,  a  much-spoiled  Tom-cat,  and  a  go- 
devil  parrot,  with  the  meagre  paraphernalia  of  a  primitive 
printing  office,  constituted  her  household,  fixtures,  and  stock 
in  trade.  The  Huntress  was  a  small  four-paged  newspaper, 
fairly  well  made  up  and  printed,  filled  with  luminous  adver- 
tisements, a  short  sensational  story,  editorials,  admonitory 
suggestions,  hints  to  delinquent  subscribers,  recalcitrant  vic- 
tims, and  others  who  had  neither  proffered  assistance  nor 
complied  with  her  polite  solicitations  for  small  loans,  to  be 
promptly  returned  with  thanks,  but  mostly  of  highly  com- 
plimentary and  fulsome  personal  notices  of  those  who  accepted 
her  social  visits  in  good  faith  and  amenity,  sweetened  by  lib- 
eral subscriptions  to  The  Huntress.  The  composition,  im- 
posing, and  press-work,  and  the  local  delivery  of  the  paper 
were  all,  with  the  assistance  of  the  domestic,  performed  by 
the  printer's  devil,  who  also  occupied  his  leisure  time  with 
such  chores  as  madam  and  the  household  pets  saw  fit  to  com- 
mand. She  was  an  enthusiastic  friend,  free  and  fulsome  in 
adulation,  voluble  and  voluminous  in  compliment,  piquant 


70  PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES. 

and  poignant  in  criticism,  quickly  perceptive  of  one's  good 
qualities,  and  equally  receptive  of  remunerative  recognition. 
Her  good  opinion  was  commensurate  with  the  liberality  of 
subscription  to  The  Huntress.  Her  dislikes,  enmities,  and 
animosities  were  not  less  vehement  and  extravagant;  but 
withal,  her  charity  and  good  nature  covered  a  multitude  of 
infirmities,  if  not  vices.  She  was  far  removed  from  the  class 
of  demi-monde,  and  held  chastity,  virtue,  and  good  breeding 
in  high  regard,  though  in  ordinary  conversation  and  dishabille 
she  seemed  to  have  forgotten  the  rigid  proprieties  of  her  early 
life.  When  out  on  a  tour  of  social  blackmailing  she  was 
radiant  in  smiles  and  paint,  and  adorned  in  antique  styles  of 
head-gear,  with  antiquated  and  flash  addenda  of  attire,  more 
in  harmony  with  some  histrionic  caricature  than  good  taste 
and  beauty.  These  excu^ions  were  for  the  most  part  con- 
fined to  new  Congressmen  and  other  raw  officials  and  their 
families,  who  were  more  verdant  than  wise,  and  fell  easy  and 
willing  victims  to  her  redundant  vocabulary  of  pathos,  slaver, 
and  soft  sawder.  It  was  currently  reported  then,  and  is  be- 
lieved now  by  some  of  my  contemporaries,  that  one  or  more 
of  these  excursive  escapades  were  terminated  w^ith  a  forcible 
douche  under  a  pump — a  method  said  to  have  been  resorted  to 
then  and  before  to  give  expression  to  their  disapproval  and 
reproach  by  those  more  vindictive  than  polite.  She  did  not, 
however,  limit  her  foraging  excursions  to  such  "  fresh  woods 
and  pastures  new,"  but  sought  "  pearls  at  random  strung." 

Among  her  favorites,  of  whom  I  name  Mrs.  Ashley,  after- 
ward Mrs.  Crittenden,  and  Mrs.  Florida  White,  afterward 
Mrs.  Beatty,  ladies  of  the  highest  social  position  who  were  as 
popular  as  they  were  beloved  by  their  large  circles  of  friends 
and  acquaintances  among  the  most  cultured  people  of  this 
city  and  wherever  known. 

In  the  issue  of  The  Huntress  of  July  1,  1848,  there  may 
be  found  highly  laudatory  notices  of  Henry  May,  Daniel 
Radcliffe,  S.  S.  Williams,  Philip  Barton  Key,  and  Edwin 
Morgan,  distinguished  members  of  the  bar  of  this  city,  and 


PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES.  71 

the  following  of  myself,  which  I  reproduce  here  as  an  illus- 
tration of  her  blase  style  of  literary  and  descriptive  attain- 
ments. I  suppose  I  paid  the  "  hush  "  money,  and  I  know 
that  I  submitted  to  the  jeers,  taunts,  and  laughter  of  friends 
through  the  long  sunny  days  of  that  memorable  summer. 

DR.    S.    C.   BUSEY. 

Dr.  B.  is  a  gentleman  of  very  promising  appearance,  and  quite 
young  to  be  in  practice.  He  wants  but  little  of  six  feet  in  height,  of 
the  average  size,  and  a  perfect  Adonis  in  figure  and  form.  His  face 
is  round,  of  the  medium  shade,  and  features  of  the  finest  symmetry. 
His  forehead,  of  medium  depth,  denotes  erudition  and  good  sense ; 
his  strongly,  finely-arched  brow  denotes  powerful  intellect;  his  mild 
dove  eye  is  large  and  liquid,  and  denotes  feeling,  modesty,  and  be- 
nignity itself;  his  countenance  is  serene  and  studious,  and  shows  a 
mind  of  capacity  and  uncommon  kindness.  His  manners  are  affable 
and  winning. 

There  is  no  doubt  of  his  success  if  skill  and  attention  can  succeed  ; 
he  has  made  some  important  cures  already. 

Just  here  I  will  interpolate  a  brief  reference  to  a  cluster 
of  uninhabitable  tenement  houses,  known  then  as  "  Hazel's 
Row,"  located  on  Second  Street  between  A  Street  and  Mary- 
land Avenue,  which  were  occupied  by  the  most  disorderly, 
drunken,  and  debased  group  of  men,  women,  and  children, 
white  and  colored,  that  ever  afflicted  any  section  of  this  city. 
So  frightfully  disgusting,  obscene,  and  unsafe  were  their  daily 
and  nightly  carousals  of  debauchery  and  bestiality  that  I  was 
soon  compelled  to  deny  myself,  even  under  the  protection  of 
guardsmen,  the  opportunities  of  minor  surgery,  and  leave 
their  undressed  and  festering  wounds  to  stench  their  filthy 
and  lousy  lodgings.  Across  the  way  lived  poor  old  Mrs. 
Cratty,  with  her  family  of  five  bad  sons  and  one  girl,  which 
furnished  my  first  case  of  opium  poisoning,  first  case  of  small- 
pox, and  first  personal  observation  of  the  protection  of  vac- 
cination done  after  exposure,  the  child  being  continuously 
exposed  in  the  same  room  with  the  victims  of  the  disease. 

There  was  another  oddity  whose  memory  commands  a  place 


72  PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES._ 

in  these  memoirs  of  my  early  professional  life.  He  was  an 
intelligent,  fairly  educated  man,  with  an  ample  inheritance, 
which  he  fritted  away  in  busy  idleness.  He  was  neither  a 
crank .  nor  a  skeptic,  but  belonged  to  that  class  of  men  who 
apparently  are  geniuses  of  their  own  taste  and  make-up,  with 
here  and  there  a  loose  screw  in  their  mental  constitutions.  He 
was  independent  in  thought  and  decisive  in  conclusion,  but 
not  tenacious  in  conviction.  The  dominant  fiction  of  a  day 
or  a  week  might  be  supplanted  by  another  and  another  at  each 
successive  interview.  At  times  he  would  be  illuminated  with 
some  startling  conception,  frivolous  or  grave  as  the  case  might 
be,  but  never  disturbing  his  equanimity.  He  would  walk  the 
streets  with  long  and  rapid  strides,  going  to  and  from  some 
resort  of  idleness  and  gossipy  entertainment,  in  seeming  pro- 
found study,  from  which  he  could  only  be  diverted  by  per- 
sonal interruption,  and  then  to  be  engaged  in  discursive  con- 
versation, which  might  or  might  not  relate  to  the  reflection 
which  had  seemed  to  distract  him  from  all  surroundings.  He 
did  not  solicit  professional  business,  but  volunteered  advice 
gratuitously,  and  would  commend  his  recommendations  with 
enthusiasm  and  confidence  I. do  not  know  that  he  ever  had 
a  patient  outside  of  his  immediate  family,  and  doubt  if  any 
of  them  willingly  took  his  ptisans  and  pills.  His  scientific, 
or,  more  properly,  medical  theories  and  convictions  related 
almost  exclusively  to  therapeusis.  During  an  epidemic  of 
dysentery  in  the  early  fifties  he  urged  drop  doses,  at  two  and 
three  hours  intervals,  of  castor-oil  as  a  specific,  and  would 
harangue  everybody  that  would  tolerate  him  on  its  unfailing 
efficacy.  He  was  perfectly  sincere  and  honest,  but  could  not 
cite  a  single  case  in  which  he  or  anybody  had  tried  it.  To 
this  hallucination  he  adhered  with  unusual  pertinacity.  He 
was  his  own  worst  enemy,  but  not  the  enemy  of  any  other 
person. 

Odd  'characters  were  not  confined  to  the  profession.  In 
social  life  I  soon  became  closely  associated  with  three  gentle- 
men very  much  older  than  myself — Senator  John  M.  Clayton, 


PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES.  73 

John  M.  Brodhead,  and  John  H.  Houston.  They  were  gen- 
tlemen of  great  intelligence,  cultivated  and  agreeable  conver- 
sationalists, and  companionable  for  even  so  young  a  man  as 
myself.  They  were  noted  whist  players,  and  assembled 
weekly  or  oftener  to  play.  When  the  fourth  man  was  not 
convenient  I  was  invited  to  take  the  hand,  always  the  partner 
of  the  Senator,  who  was  very  patient,  and  would  tolerate  my 
mistakes  without  remonstrance.  Brodhead  and  Houston  were 
equally  expert  players,  but  the  former  was  too  irritable  for  a 
less  skilful  partner.  Even  such  a  good-natured  man  as  Hous- 
ton would  sometimes  resent  his  criticism  with  the  vehement 
exclamation,  "Zounds  and  death,  man,  I  know  how  to  play 
ray  own  hand."  Houston  was  somewhat  eccentric  and  very 
superstitious,  and  would  often  break  the  monotony  of  the  game 
by  some  illustrative  exhibition  of  one  of  these  qualities.  If 
ill-luck  pursued  him,  he  would  attempt  to  interrupt  it  by  some 
amusing  gyratory  contortion  or  by  some  equally  surprising 
and  vehement  outcry  in  keeping  with  the  momentary  impulse 
of  one  or  the  other  aberration,  always  serving  as  a  harmless 
and  amusing  interruption  of  the  monotonous  silence  of  the 
game.  After  Clayton's  appointment  to  the  Department  of 
State  the  quartette  was  broken  up  until  his  re-election  to  the 
Senate  after  the  death  of  President  Taylor.  Then  he  returned 
to  his  quarters  on  New  Jersey  Avenue  and  resumed  the  play- 
ing of  whist,  and  continued  as  before,  until  his  death.  My 
experience  and  practice  with  such  expert  players  improved  my 
knowledge  of  the  game,  but  I  have  never  acquired  either  the 
expertness  or  fondness  for  it  equal  to  either  of  my  instructors, 
and  have  long  since  forgotten  the  science  of  whist. 

Houston's  eccentricities  were  simply  acquired  peculiarities 
which  attracted  and  interested  the  company,  characterized  him 
as  a  distinct  personality,  and  earned  for  him  the  sobriquet  of 
"  Old  Jack."  Many  of  his  superstitions  were  as  ridiculous 
as  they  were  harmless,  but  they  sometimes  occasioned  him 
considerable  annoyance,  whilst  offering  sport  to  observers  and 
listeners.     If  he  left  his  dwelling  without  his  spectacles,  he 


74  PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES. 

would  not  turn  back,  but  stand  still  at  the  place  he  discovered 
the  loss,  and  actually  bawl  in  increasing  loudness  for  some  one 
to  bring  them  to  him,  and  he  always  insisted  that  leaping  three 
times  around  his  chair  on  one  leg  would  bring  him  good  luck. 
I  have  witnessed  the  success  of  the  bawling,  but  never  of  the 
three  times  leaping. 

Mr.  Houston  owned  a  family  milch  cow,  usually  one  of  the 
awkward  and  ignorant  kind,  to  which  he  gave  special  atten- 
tion at  feeding  and  milking  times,  and  blessed  or  damned,  as 
the  animal's  behavior  might  please  or  displease  him.  Of 
course,  a  well-dressed  gentleman  who  may  loaf,  loiter,  or 
busy  himself  about  a  cow-stable  may  have  occasion  to  unload 
his  wrath  in  expletive  epithets  and  anathemas,  and  such  was 
the  case  with  my  friend ;  but,  as  usual,  the  milkmaid  was  to 
blame  for  provoking  the  cow's  misconduct. 

These  milking  and  feeding  seances  did  not  always  end  hap- 
pily. After  a  volley  or  more  of  expletive  remonstrances  with 
the  obdurate  beast  there  would  come  a  sudden  pause,  as  if  one 
of  nature's  thunderbolts  had  completed  its  brilliant  stream  of 
devastation,  and  soon  our  friend  would  emerge  from  the  stable, 
slamming  the  rickety  gate  behind  him,  cross  the  yard  in  hot 
pursuit  of  a  wash-basin  and  a  clean  shirt,  enter  the  house  by 
bolting  sidewise  or  with  all  fours  against  the  door,  that  had 
provokingly  swung  to  its  fastenings,  and  call  aloud,  with  the 
voice  of  the  augry  stentor,  for  Gertrude  to  hurry  with  soap, 
towel,  and  toilet  spray.  While  standing,  waiting  impatiently 
and  shivering  with  morose  chagriu,  one  could  in  fancy  see 
myriads  of  the  bacilli  of  complex  odors  streaming  in  radiat- 
ing columns  from  the  angry  face  and  bare  but  reddened  scalp. 
The  picture  of  one  such  scene  of  busy  scrubbing  of  the  dairy- 
maid's victim,  with  his  imprecations  whilst  turning  fore  and 
aft  for  closer  inspection,  can  be  better  imagined  than  described, 
and  needs  but  one  impression  to  follow  life's  mirthful  remem- 
brances. As  I  write,  the  scene  comes  back  to  me  with  irre- 
pressible laughter. 

On  one  occasion  a  chimney  in  his  house  accidentally  caught 


PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES.  75 

fire.  Fires  on  Capitol  Hill  in  those  days  were  events  of  great 
popular  concern,  and  when  an  alarm  was  given,  men,  women, 
children,  dogs,  and  every  living  and  creeping  beast,  et  id  omne 
genus,  ran  pell-mell  to  the  scene  of  the  conflagration.  He  was 
absent,  aud  did  not  reach  the  house  until  the  fire  had  been 
extingui??hed  and  the  crowd  had  well-nigh  dispersed,  but  he 
came  full-tilt  at  double-quick,  bounding  over  space  like  a 
"  youthful  colt  fetching  mad  bounds,"  leaped  upon  the  front 
porch,  and,  pausing  a  moment  in  rigid  terror,  with  clenched 
fists  and  every  muscle  of  his  body  strained  to  utmost  ten- 
sion, he  exclaimed  with  sonorous  vehemence,  "By  the 'gods 
and  zounds  !  the  8th  of  August,  the  heat  at  90°,  aud  my  house 
on  fire,"  and  continued  in  the  same  statuesque  posture  to  re- 
peat the  exclamation  until  convinced  by  the  assurance  of  the 
bystanders  that  no  damage  had  occurred ;  then  he  relaxed 
into  peaceful  gratitude,  and  retired  to  counsel  with  the  family. 
The  exclamation  became  a  by-word  among  the  wags,  and  our 
friend  enjoyed  a  dramatic  personation  of  the  ludicrous  ascrip- 
tion as  much  as  any  other  listener. 

The  Fire  Department  of  the  city  at  that  period  was  con- 
stituted of  several  companies  in  which  young  men  voluntarily 
enrolled  themselves  and  gratuitously  discharged  the  duties 
prescribed  by  the  law.  The  company  located  on  Capitol  Hill 
was  known  as  the  Columbia  Fire  Eugine  Company.  This 
company  was,  perhaps,  better  equipped  than  many  of  such 
organizations,  and  was  very  popular  with  the  residents  of  that 
district.  It  fitted  up  the  engine-house  with  a  library-room 
and  supplied  it  with  a  choice  collection  of  books,  in  a  measure 
due  to  the  generosity  of  Mrs.  Pendleton,  who  lived  very  near 
and  took  great  interest  in  the  young  men  of  the  company.  It 
established  a  winter  course  of  lectures,  which  were  delivered 
by  well-known  citizens,  among  whom  may  be  mentioned  B.  B. 
French,  Francis  H.  McNerhany,  aud  Johu  H.  Houston. 
These  lectures  were  attended  by  large  and  appreciative  audi- 
ences. On  the  occasion  of  Mr.  Houston's  first  lecture,  the 
subject  of  which  was  "Authority  and  Obedience  to  Law," 


76  PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES. 

the  audience  was  unusually  large  and  enthusiastic,  many  hav- 
ing been  attracted  by  his  literary  attainments,  as  well  as  the 
expectation  that  the  discourse  would  be  interspersed  with 
quaint  and  interesting  illustrations  and  original  expressions, 
which  would  relieve  the  monotony  of  the  argument  and  add 
zest  to  the  intellectual  feast ;  but  few,  however,  were  prepared 
for  the  prelude,  which  was  uttered  with  dramatic  force  :  "  Go 
tell  to  Lacedemonia  I  die  in  obedience  to  her  laws,"  followed 
by  a  momentary  pause,  and  then,  with  a  quizzical  expression, 
adding,  "  Will  some  one  give  me  a  glass  of  water  ?  My  family 
had  salt-fish  for  supper  to-night."  The  uproar  lasted  long 
enough  to  enable  him  to  recall  the  train  of  thought,  and  he 
proceeded.  The  lecture  was  broken  by  a  number  of  equally 
amusing  interruptions  illustrating  the  quaintness  of  his  style 
and  exhibiting  his  familiarity  with  history. 

I  am  reminded  by  a  friend  of  an  incident  that  offers  the 
opportunity  to  refer  to  the  domestic  economy  of  that  period. 
On  that  occasion  when  she,  then  a  girl  about  ten  years  of  age, 
as  was  her  habit  on  off  school-days,  was  accompanying  Mr. 
Houston  through  the  Centre  Market,  a  neatly  dressed  colored 
woman  accosted  him  with  the  statement  that  she  heard  he 
wanted  to  hire  a  good  cook.  After  answering  his  inquiries 
in  regard  to  her  qualifications,  of  which  there  were  many,  and 
some  ludicrous  in  detail,  she  asked  what  wages  he  would  give, 
to  which  his  bluflp  reply  was,  "  Six  dollars  a  month  and  a 
cowhiding  every  Saturday  night."  Six  dollars  per  month 
was  the  usual  wages  for  a  good  family  cook,  but  the  weekly 
cowhiding  was  a  perquisite  offered  as  an  inducement.  My 
informant  does  not  state  that  any  bargain  was  made.  We 
may  safely  conjecture,  however,  that  the  perquisite  was  never 
paid,  but  when  the  dinner  was  late,  or  the  family  cow  failed 
to  low  at  the  back  gate  on  time,  the  good  cook  was  stirred  to 
haste  by  the  resounding  slogan  of  surprise  or  discontent, 
'*  Zounds  and  death  !" 

The  exclamation  "  Zounds  and  death  ! "  was  not  an  explo- 
sion of  passion  and  bad  temper,  but,  as  a  rule,  an  emphatic 


PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES.  77 

prelude  to  some  inquiry  pertinent  to  the  incident  or  occasion 
that  excited  his  surprise  or  discontent.  It  was  usually  deliv- 
ered with  pronounced  force,  sometimes  associated  with  closed 
fists  and  resolute  gesture,  and,  occasionally,  also  with  a  firm 
stamp  of  the  right  foot.  Straugers  would  be  shocked  at  the 
apparent  phenomenal  exhibition  of  rage,  and  were  equally 
astonished  at  the  unconcern  of  others  who  were  present.  It 
speedily  terminated  with  some  surprising  expression  of  good 
humor,  and  perhaps  a  hearty  laugh.  In  fact,  it  was  an  ex- 
clamation intended  to  attract  immediate  attention,  that  he 
might  state  his  will,  wish,  or  whim  without  interruption,  and 
secure  a  hasty  compliance. 

Notwithstanding  these  diversions  of  a  charming  tempera- 
ment and  disposition,  he  found  time  to  gratify  his  taste,  and 
especially  his  fondness  for  reading,  confining  himself  with  rare 
exceptions  to  history. 

Mr.  Houston  was  one  of  the  noted  men  of  his  period.  He 
was  born  in  Lancaster  County,  Pennsylvania,  and  during  his 
early  manhood  was  employed  in  the  shipping-house  of  Fran- 
cis &  Willing  in  Philadelphia,  by  whom  he  was  frequently 
sent  as  supercargo  in  their  extensive  commercial  enterprises. 
He  married  the  youngest  daughter  of  the  renowned  Commo- 
dore Truxton,  and  subsequently  accepted  a  position  in  the 
Treasury  Department,  and  moved  to  this  city,  where  he  re- 
sided until  his  death  at  a  ripe  old  age.  He  had  been  favored 
with  a  classic  education,  spoke  several  modern  languages  with 
fluency,  and  during  his  long  residence  in  this  city  enjoyed  the 
acquaintance,  friendship,  and  companionship  of  many  of  the 
most  distinguished  statesmen  and  other  public  men,  who  at 
different  times  held  high  positions  in  the  councils  of  the 
nation.  He  was  the  devoted  friend  and  intimate  associate  of 
the  late  President  Buchanan. 

He  was  a  public-spirited  citizen,  and  took  an  active  interest 
in  every  enterprise  to  promote  the  prosperity  of  the  city,  but 
for  the  most  part  devoted  his  leisure  time  to  the  study  of  his- 
tory.    He  believed   Napoleon  Bonaparte  to  have  been  the 


78  PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES. 

greatest  military  chieftain  the  world  had  produced,  and  it  is 
probable  that  his  private  library  at  the  time  of  his  death 
contained  every  volume,  both  in  the  French  and  English 
languages,  which  had  been  published  concerning  him. 

It  is  more  than  probable  that  most  of  his  eccentricities  and 
all  of  his  superstitions  had  been  acquired  by  his  association 
with  the  merchant  marine  and  sailors  in  his  frequent  voyages 
on  the  great  merchant  ships  of  the  firm  whose  trusted  agent 
he  had  been  in  so  many  commercial  concerns.  These  peculi- 
arities did  not,  however,  affect  in  any  manner  his  standing  as 
a  citizen  and  gentleman  of  the  highest  repute. 

Clayton  was  one  of  the  most  companionable  men  I  ever 
knew,  but  habitually  irregular  in  manner  of  life.  He  went 
to  bed  and  arose  at  pleasure,  and  when  in  bed  he  pushed  his 
feet  beyond  the  foot,  keeping  his  negro  valet,  Lewis,  busy 
covering  and  recovering  them,  as  he  might  choose.  Ate  when 
and  what  he  pleased,  and  many  times  when  the  meal  was  pre- 
pared at  the  time  and  according  to  order  would  decline  it  and 
give  another  order,  for  which  he  would  patiently  wait ;  would 
send  for  a  physician,  as  he  might  fancy,  and  obey  any  order  as 
might  suit  the  caprice  of  the  time  being,  but  always  expressed 
his  gratitude  for  the  service  and  promptly  paid  the  charges 
without  regard  to  the  amount.  Some  people  censured  him 
for  alleged  intemperate  habits.  I  have  often  seen  him  sit 
and  sip  very  slowly  a  glass  of  whiskey  and  water,  but  never 
in  quantities  sufficient  to  affect  him  in  any  manner  observable 
to  me,  so  think  the  charge  of  dissipation  entirely  without 
foundation.  He  was  very  fond  of  company,  but  too  indolent 
to  seek  it  outside  of  his  apartments,  and,  when  impatient  in 
waiting,  would  send  Lewis  to  invite  friends  to  call  upon  him, 
either  to  join  in  the  game  of  whist  or  to  listen  to  him — for 
guests  had  very  little  else  to  do  but  to  gratify  him  by  acqui- 
escence in  his  method  of  entertainment. 

Ferdinand  X  *  Y  *  Z  was  another  solitary  man,  the  hus- 
band of  a  sprightly  and  charming  wife.  His  loneliness  con- 
sisted in  self-conceit,  due  to  his  reverential  esteem  of  the  fact 


PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES.  79 

that  he  was  a  sou  of  a  distinguished  scientist,  and  to  his 
praiseworthy  admiration  of  his  wife.  There  is  nothing  re- 
markable in  a  husband's  devotion  to  and  admiration  of  a 
good  wife,  but  the  combination  of  this  commendable  quality 
with  the  hallucination  of  inheritance  is  so  obviously  incon- 
gruous that  one  should  not  be  surprised  at  his  Quixotisms. 
He  carried  his  ideal  standard  of  adoration  to  such  intensity 
of  social  self-ostracism  that  he  unwillingly  tolerated  any  asso- 
ciation without  her  presence,  and  then  was  so  unhappy  with 
fears  of  her  personal  discomfort,  to  which  he  would  give 
expression  by  significant  movements  of  the  head  and  with 
utterances  of  complaining  anxiety,  that  one  felt  like  seizing 
him  by  the  nape  of  the  neck  and  leading  him  into  some  silent 
and  secluded  corner  where  he  might  brood  in  lonely  conceit 
until  she  was  ready  to  accompany  him  to  their  happy  home. 
His  hallucinations  never  seemed  to  occasion  her  a  moment's 
care  or  anxiety.  His  plaintive  suggestions  to  go  home,  to 
stop  dancing,  not  to  eat  this,  that,  or  the  other,  it  was  an 
inclement  night,  a  long  distance  from  home,  or  a  late  hour, 
were  foiled  by  such  good  temper  and  bright  repartee  as  to 
bring  even  to  his  wizened  face  the  grim  smile  of  admiration, 
but  quickly  followed  by  one  of  his  peculiar  head  movements 
that  seemed  to  indicate  a  will  without  authority.  I  never 
knew  a  happier  couple,  but  no  one  could  see  them  together 
but  to  wonder  what  could  have  attracted  her  to  this  man  of 
three  parts — one  idea  and  two  qualities. 

"  Two  souls  with  but  a  single  thought, 
Two  hearts  that  beat  as  one." 

The  negro  race  was  not  without  representation  in  this  class 
of  unmatched  beings.  The  most  notable  example  in  the  east- 
ern part  of  the  city  was  a  crippled,  limping  negro  man,  who 
played  the  role  of  waiter  in  a  private  house  when  there  was 
no  funeral  he  could  attend.  It  did  not  matter  to  him  whose 
funeral  it  was,  or  in  which  cemetery  the  body  was  to  be 
interred,  he  would  dress  himself  with  the  utmost  care  in  his 


80  PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES. 

best  suit  of  black  clothing,  and  follow  on  foot,  in  apparent 
deep  sorrow,  the  procession  on  its  way  to  the  cemetery.  He 
was  known  as  Foote,  with  several  long  Christian  names  de- 
noting his  distinguished  ancestry.  When  asked  where  he  was 
going  he  answered  with  a  melancholy  grin,  "  Too  foonel," 
and  if  questioned  whose  "  foonel,"  he  limped  along,  express- 
ing his  response  in  one  long  glaring  look  of  profound  and 
disturbed  grief.  It  was  a  curious  hallucination,  but  he  be- 
lieved it  to  be  his  duty,  and  faithfully  discharged  it,  return- 
ing home  in  the  most  joyous  humor,  apparently  overflowing 
with  the  pleasure  derived  from  the  sad  scene  he  had  witnessed. 
I  have  recently  seen  that  same  crippled  negro  man,  now  feeble 
and  stooping  with  age,  with  cane  in  hand,  hobbling  along  as 
best  he  could,  in  pursuit  of  some  funeral  procession,  seemingly 
as  intensely  absorbed  in  the  mournful  service  as  when  a  young 
man,  now  long  since  passed. 

Every  community  has  its  drug  fiend.  The  Capitol  Hill 
neighborhood  may  have  had  many — it  certainly  had  one. 
He  was  a  small,  red-haired,  very  bad-tempered  man,  who 
attributed  his  ailments,  real  and  imaginary,  to  some  derelic- 
tion of  duty  on  the  part  of  his  much-abused  aud  patient  wife. 
He  may  have  occasionally  been  actually  sick,  more  often  he 
thought  he  was  sick,  and  most  often  he  was  trying  to  make 
himself  sick.  He  believed  in  the  curative  power  of  drugs, 
and  if  one  dose  made  him  feel  better,  he  would  double  the 
next  dose  to  make  "  doubly  sure  "  the  betterment,  and  so  on 
until  the  maximum  betterment,  or,  more  probably,  detriment 
was  reached.  He  would  send  for  one  physician  during  the 
day  to  relieve  an  alleged  acute  and  painful  constipation,  and 
call  another  at  night  to  arrest  an  equally  acute  and  painful 
diarrhoea,  and  repeat  this  deception  day  after  day  until  one  or 
both  physicians  discovered  it. 

On  one  occasion  I  was  summoned  at  night  in  impetuous 
haste  to  hear  his  story  of  sudden  loss  of  the  senses  of  taste 
and  smell  and  general  sensation.  I  found  him  sitting  bolt 
upright  in  an  arm-chair  with  firm  grasp  of  its  arms,  his  red 


PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES.  81 

hair  standing  on  ends,  face  flushed  with  rage,  and  pouring 
forth  volley  after  volley  of  direful  oaths.  The  spectacle  was 
as  ludicrous  as  it  was  sad,  and  the  poor  wife  was  terrified  at 
the  apparition  of  a  man  dying  in  such  indecent  haste  with 
such  a  sudden  and  strangely  complex  disorder.  I  knew  him 
well  enough  to  believe  that  it  was  all  "cry  and  no  wool,"  a 
put-up  job  to  frighten  or  avenge  his  wife  for  some  fancied 
inattention,  neglect,  or  refusal  to  comply  with  some  unreason- 
able request  or  command.  I  knew  also  his  faith  in  the 
potential  power  of  drugs,  but  it  was  limited  to  the  visible 
and  subjective  effects.  Palliatives,  innocuous  pills,  and  pla- 
cebos were  to  him  "as  jewels  of  gold  in  a  swine's  snout." 
His  love  of  deception  was  so  intense,  and  his  belief  in  the 
completeness  of  his  artifice  was  so  firm,  that  he  would  submit 
to  torture  rather  than  confess  its  detection.  To  appeal  to 
reason,  or  to  oflPer  the  assurance  of  speedy  relief  from  any 
prescribed  method  of  procedure  or  prescription  of  drugs  left 
to  his  volition  for  execution  or  administration,  would  be  as 
frivolous  and  futile  as  the  application  of  a  blister  to  a  lamp- 
post. Nothing  but  such  treatment  as  would  force  from  him 
the  open  confession  of  the  restoration  of  the  lost  senses  was 
available.  The  case  was  phenomenal  and  unique  only  in  the 
stupid  audacity  of  his  will.  After  the  storm  had  subsided 
and  his  vocabulary  of  blasphemous  expletives  had  been  ex- 
hausted I  said  to  him  that  his  maladies  were  so  complex  that 
each  would  have  to  be  treated  as  a  separate  and  distinct  affec- 
tion, and  as  the  loss  of  general  sensation  was  the  most  serious 
I  would  attack  it  first.  Then,  seating  him  upon  a  cane- seated 
chair,  I  enveloped  him  with  several  heavy  blankets,  put  his 
feet  in  a  hot  mustard  bath,  to  which  I  added  at  brief  inter- 
vals some  hotter  water,  and  placed  under  the  chair  a  lighted 
alcohol  lamp.  He  bore  it  for  a  time  with  amazing  fortitude, 
but  finally  the  rigid  lines  of  his  face  began  to  soften  down, 
the  sweat  poured  in  streams  from  every  pore,  the  stiffened 
hair  fell  dripping  with  sweat  in  locks  over  his  brows  and 
head,  and,  as  he  began  to  wince,  I  offered  him  a  dose  of  the 

6 


82  PERSONAL  REMIXISCEXCES. 

tincture  of  capsicum,  which,  to  my  surprise,  he  swallowed 
without  a  grimace;  but,  as  the  second  dose  quickly  came,  he 
rebelled  agaiust  the  fire  at  both  ends,  and  reluctantly  con- 
fessed a  partial  restoration  of  the  senses  of  taste  and  sensation, 
but  in  appareut  insolent  glee  reminded  me  that  his  smell  was 
still  absent.  I  poured  from  a  bottle  of  the  milk  of  asafoetida 
such  a  dose  of  the  nauseous  and  stinking  drug  as  I  thought 
would  bring  smell  aud  taste  to  a  tin  funnel,  and  forced  him 
to  take  it.  It  came  back  quickly,  and  he  smelled  it  both  ways. 
I  left  him  soon  afterward  sleeping  quietly.  He  was  cured 
for  the  time,  and  remained  for  a  considerable  period  a  sensible 
convalescent,  and  never  to  my  knowledge  had  any  return  of 
the  maladies.  His  confidence  in  drugs  remained  unabated,  but 
his  imaginary  ailments  assumed  a  mild  and  harmless  type. 
He  lived  to  an  advanced  age,  and  died  as  he  had  lived — a 
complaining  and  fretful  bore. 

Some  lay  readers  may  think  the  foregoing  a  startling  sketch, 
but  my  professional  brethren  will  recognize  it  as  the  type  of 
a  class  of  cases  which  differ  only  in  the  shade  of  color  and 
special  array  of  mental  and  nervous  phenomena.  It  is  a  brief 
but  accurate  description  of  an  actual  occurrence. 

If  it  was  possible  to  strip  the  theory  and  practice  of  medi- 
cine of  the  imaginary,  exaggerated,  imitated,  and  fashionable 
ailments  with  which  flesh  is  afflicted,  the  life  of  the  physician 
would  be  robbed  of  very  many  of  its  most  painful  and  vex- 
atious annoyances  aud  disappointments,  and  to  it  would  be 
added  the  hope  of  a  lifetime  quite  up  to  the  average  of  men 
in  general. 

It  must  not,  however,  be  inferred  that  the  society  of  that 
primitive  period  and  neighborhood  was  made  up  exclusively  of 
such  odd  characters.  They  were  less  scarce  than  hen's  teeth, 
but  not  sufficiently  numerous  to  interrupt  the  ordinary  social 
amenities  and  intercourse  of  a  large  circle  of  cultivated  and 
educated  people.  They  were  integers  in  the  different  grades 
of  a  community,  without  anything  in  common,  and  served  to 
add  zest  and  bonhomie  to  the  evening  colloquies  at  the  corner 


PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES.  83 

grocery  and  drug  stores,  where  would  assemble  a  coterie  of 
associates  to  discuss  the  current  events  of  the  day  and  to 
enliven  idle  care  with  the  gossip  and  sport  of  such  incidents 
as  the  wits  and  wags  might  arrange  for  such  diurnal  con- 
versation. Every  villager  and  dweller  in  suburban  districts 
knows  what  such  rendezvous  means  in  sparsely  populated  com- 
munities, where  intercommunication  is  only  available  by  inter- 
locutory dialogue,  and  nobody  is  happy  if  not  posted  with 
the  gossipy  chit-chat  of  the  news  and  rumor  mongers. 

Capitol  Hill  was  for  the  most  part  a  precinct  of  private 
residences,  mostly  owned  by  their  occupants,  some  of  whom 
were  in  Government  employ,  others  engaged  in  business  in 
other  parts  of  the  city,  a  few  living  in  retirement  upon  their 
well-earned  incomes,  and  here  and  there  one  without  visible 
means  of  support.  Of  course,  there  was  a  lot  of  truant  boys, 
mostly  occupied  in  driving  stray  pigs  from  somebody's  back- 
yard or  ''  shooing  "  geese  oif  the  sidewalks.  The  local  busi- 
ness was  limited  to  the  small  retail-shop  class — two  or  three 
groceries  that  dealt  in  daily  or  emergency  supplies  of  second- 
class  goods ;  several  poorly  nourished  drug  stores ;  a  fancy  shop 
of  dai-ning-needles,  sewing  cotton,  and  ribbons  ;  a  molasses- 
taffy  dealer,  who  spat  upon  his  sweating  hands  when  pulling 
the  taffy  to  make  it  crisp  and  brittle,  and  two  dram-shops 
that  did  a  thriving  business  during  the  sessions  of  Congress, 
but  were  dolefully  dismal  places  when  the  honorable  law- 
makers had  departed  to  their  grateful  constituencies. 

The  residents  of  Capitol  Hill  were  for  the  most  part  a 
quiet,  church-going  people  of  high  social  standing,  but  not  of 
the  ultra-fashionable  class  as  understood  now.  Social  and 
friendly  visiting  and  intercourse  were  mainly  confined  to 
mutual  friends  and  neighbors  for  iuterchang-e  of  thoug-ht, 
greeting  of  genuine  friendship,  congenial  companionship,  and 
pleasant  acquaintanceship.  Then  people  lived  to  live,  and 
when  dead  to  be  revered  by  friends  and  relations ;  now 
they  seem  to  live  to  die  and  make  place  for  their  successors. 
A  Congressional  cenotapli  would  hardly  suffice  nowadays  to 


84  PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES. 

keep  fresh  the  memory  of  the  dead   longer  than  a  calendar 
month. 

Among  the  most  distinguished  families  of  the  elite  circle  of 
the  precinct  at  the  period  of  which  I  am  writing  may  be  named, 
without  invidious  distinction,  those  of  General  Duff  Green,  a 
noted  politician,  who  owned  and  edited  The  United  States 
Telegraph  during  the  administration  of  President  Jackson,  and 
followed  with  unswerving  devotion  the  fortunes  of  John  C. 
Calhoun,  whose  eldest  son,  Andrew,  married  Margaret,  the 
second  daughter  of  Green.  Mrs.  Green  was  one  of  the  most 
charming  and  noble  matrons  it  has  been  my  good  fortune  to 
know.  She  and  Mrs.  Houston  nursed  Mrs.  Busey,  in  1850, 
through  a  long  and  tedious  illness  with  the  care,  attention, 
intelligence,  and  affection  of  women  animated  by  the  highest 
inspiration  of  Christian  benevolence  and  self-sacrifice.  There 
were  no  skilled  nurses  in  this  city  at  that  time.  Nursing 
when  not  done  by  the  immediate  family  of  the  sick  or  by  some 
kind  friend  was  limited  to  a  lot  of  "  Old  Grannies,"  who 
claimed  intuitive  and  prophetic  knowledge  of  human  ailments. 
Colonel  Charles  K.  Gardner  resigned  his  commission  in  the 
Army  in  1818,  was  senior  Assistant  Postmaster-General  in 
1829,  Auditor  of  the  Treasury  for  the  Post  Office  Department 
from  July,  1836,  to  March,  1841,  Postmaster  of  this  city 
from  March,  1845,  to  July,  1849,  and  later  Surveyor-General 
of  Oregon.  He  was  the  author  of  the  Dictionary  of  the  Army 
of  the  United  States,  published  in  1853,  and  dedicated  to  the 
House  of  Representatives.  His  eldest  daughter  married 
Governor  Mouton,  then  Senator  from  Louisiana,  and  an- 
other married  Captain,  now  Admiral  Almy.  Colonel  James 
Edlin,  Major  Augustus  A.  Nicholson,  and  Captain  Alg. 
Sidney  Taylor  were  officers  in  the  Marine  Corps  ;  Taylor  was 
brevetted  for  gallant  and  meritorious  conduct  at  the  bombard- 
ment and  capture  of  Vera  Cruz  and  at  the  capture  of  Tuspau. 
William  Cranch  was  Chief  Justice  and  John  Y.  Brent  Clerk 
of  the  Circuit  Court  of  the  District  of  Columbia  ;  James  N. 
Barker,  John  H.  Houston,  and  J.  Bartrum  North  held  re- 


PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES.  85 

sponsible  positions  in  the  Treasury  Department ;  John  M. 
Broadhead  was  a  Comptroller,  subsequently  an  Auditor  of  the 
Treasury,  and  later  one  of  the  commissioners  to  adjudicate 
the  claims  of  slaveholders  under  the  Act  of  Emancipation  of 
1863 ;  D.  W.  Middleton  was  Clerk  of  the  Supreme  Court  of 
the  United  States  ;  Robert  Beale  held  the  office  of  Sergeant- 
at-Arms  of  the  Senate  ;  B.  B.  French  succeeded  McNulty  in 
the  Clerkship  of  the  House  of  Representatives,  and  was  Com- 
missioner of  Public  Buildings  during  the  administrations  of 
Presidents  Pierce  and  Johnson  ;  Professor  Bache  was  Super- 
intendent of  the  Coast  Survey,  and  Joseph  Saxton  was  in 
charge  of  the  Bureau  of  Standard  Weights  and  Measures, 
then  a  branch  of  the  Coast  Survey;  William  P.  Elliot  was  a 
distinguished  patent  attorney ;  John  P.  Ingle  and  Joseph  Holt 
were  distinguished  citizens  living  in  retirement,  the  former  for 
the  most  part  devoting  himself  to  charitable  and  religious 
enterprises,  and  the  latter  to  the  pleasures  of  his  literary 
taste ;  subsequently  he  entered  the  Cabinet  of  President 
Buchanan,  stnd  later  was  Judge  Advocate  General  of  the 
Army.  George  Watterson  was  appointed  Librarian  of  Con- 
gress in  1815  by  President  Madison,  and  removed  by  Presi- 
dent Jackson  in  1829.  His  son  now  occupies  the  old  family 
mansion  on  Second  Street,  S.  E.  John  S.  Meehan  succeeded 
Watterson,  and  held  the  office  until  removed  by  President 
Lincoln  in  1861.  James  Adams  was  cashier  of  the  Bank  of 
Washington  ;  Thomas  P.  Trott  was  at  the  head  of  the  depre- 
dations in  the  Post  Office  Department ;  and  Colonel  Butler 
was  a  retired  army  sutler.  The  venerable  brothers  Samuel 
and  Grafton  Hanson  were  noted  men  among  the  old  families. 
There  were  a  number  of  other  families  equally  conspicuous 
in  social  life.  In  most  of  the  families  named  there  were  one 
or  more  daughters,  so  that  the  neighborhood  society  was  suffi- 
ciently supplied  with  young  people  of  both  sexes  to  make  it 
very  attractive  and  social. 

When  I  came  to  this  city  and  for  some  years  afterward,  in 
fact,  until  and  since  the  war,  social  life  was  very  different 


86  PERSOXAL  REMINISCENCES. 

from  what  it*  is  now  iu  its  methods,  usages,  and  proprieties. 
There  was  no  distinctive  official  society,  masking  in  parade 
reception  days ;  no  Cabinet,  Senator's,  or  Member  of  Con- 
gress' days,  requiring  the  ladies  to  stand  for  hours  saluting 
a  lot  of  unknown  callers  out  on  dress  exhibition  and  lunch 
incursions;  no  carnival  season,  during  which  brief  period 
every  lady  who  may  own  or  can  hire  or  borrow  an  equipage 
is  expected  to  emblazon  the  streets  in  ceremonial  mockery  of 
style  and  fashion,  making  formal  calls  during  the  afternoon 
on  those  having  special  days,  later  attending  one  or  more  teas, 
the  more  the  more  elite  and  spectacular,  afterward  a  dinner 
party,  and,  finally,  a  ball,  to  dance  or  play  the  role  of  matron 
or  wall-flower,  and  go  home  in  the  morning  to  sleep  the  sleep 
of  wearied  nature  until  the  gong  calls  her  again  to  the  inex- 
orable duties  of  this  popular  routine  life.  There  were  no 
gangs  of  itinerant  "big  spread"  fiends  tramping  the  streets 
in  flocks  and  crowding  the  dining-rooms  of  distinguished 
officials,  feeding  to  overflowing  and  staffing  their  pockets  and 
bosoms  with  bon-bons  to  carry  back  to  their'  village  and 
interior  homes  in  proof  of  their  maurauding  escapades  in  the 
private  dwellings  of  defenceless  ladies  and  of  thrift  in  relic- 
hunting. 

Public  receptions  during  the  season  were  confined  to  the 
Executive  Mansion  and  dwelling  of  the  Speaker,  to  either  of 
which  any  properly  dressed  and  well-behaved  person  could 
go  at  will,  without  card.  On  special  occasions,  such  as  the 
first  of  January,  the  houses  of  other  officials,  a  few  distin- 
guished military  officers,  and  some  prominent  citizens  w'ere 
open  to  the  public,  to  which  ladies  aud  gentlemen  were  alike 
admitted  and  courteously  entertained.  The  ordinary  social 
entertainments  were  not  so  numerous  as  now,  but  equally  as 
formal,  perhaps  more  exclusive,  less  expensive  and  showy  in 
ladies'  dresses  and  decorations,  with  a  move  sumptuous  but 
heavy  and  less  dainty  banquet. 

Society  then,  as  now,  was  subject  to  vicissitudes  and  ex- 
travagances.    The  censor  then,  as  now,  could   find   ample 


PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES.  87 

opportunity  for  criticism,  and  the  scandal-mougers.  were 
equally  busy  with  their  reproachful  aspersions.  Every  period 
and  decade  has  its  faults,  its  virtues,  and  its  environments, 
and  he  is  most  happy  and  contented  who  believes  in  the 
progress  of  civilization. 

Pennsylvania  Avenue  from  the  west  entrance  of  the  Cap- 
itol grounds  to  Fifteenth  Street  west  was  the  fashionable 
promenade.  During  the  afternoons  of  weekdays  in  the 
winter,  spring,  and  autumn  seasons,  when  the  weather  was 
not  inclement,  the  sidewalk  on  the  north  side  was  thronged 
with  well-dressed  ladies  and  gentlemen  belonging  to  the  best 
classes  of  society,  going  to  and  fro  in  pairs  or  groups,  engaged 
in  merry  chat  or  profound  discussion,  according  to  their  tastes 
and  inclinations.  As  on  all  such  thoroughfares  where  fash- 
ion and  beauty  and  the  old  and  young  congregate  to  prome- 
nade and  to  meet  and  greet  friends  and  companions,  there 
were  to  be  seen  variety  in  form,  figure,  carriage,  dress,  taste, 
and  manners  among  both  sexes,  varying  in  all  the  shades  and 
degrees  of  conventional,  provincial,  and  cosmopolitan  styles 
and  make-up.  The  affianced  couple  with  arms  locked — then 
the  method  of  official  announcement  of  eno-as-ement — chatted 
at  rapid  pace,  in  the  solitude  of  "  two  hearts  that  beat  as 
one  ; "  the  musing  pairs  shyly  demonstrating  their  impatience 
for  the  final  declaration  of  love,  that  they  might  lock  the 
right  and  left  in  token  of  their  betrothal ;  the  giddy  belle, 
with  her  brace  or  trio  of  hangers-on,  each  vicing  with  the 
other  for  the  precious  smiles  of  favor  and  preference ;  the 
wayward  coquette  alone,  perhaps,  with  the  last  chosen  victim, 
or,  more  probably,  with  several  suitors  in  fighting  masquer- 
ade, to  win  the  charms  that  sported  and  played  off  and  on 
with  their  hopes  and  fears ;  the  groups  of  girls  in  solid  pha- 
lanx, by  fours  and  sixes  abreast,  swooping  the  broad  sidewalk, 
without  a  beau  or  even  a  male  companion  in  the  rear  to  inter- 
rupt their  merry  criticisms  of  the  spoony  pairs,  and  other 
passers-by,  not  less  conspicuous  for  some  less  sentimental  but 
more  uncommon  exhibition  of  mental  or  physical  deflection ; 


88  PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES. 

and,  perhaps,  followed  by  another  coterie  of  women  under 
the  spinster  age,  but  not  beyond  the  age  of  adolescent  hope, 
in  sullen  pursuit  and  with  envious  comment,  giving  free  ex- 
pression to  censure  of  the  improprieties  which  disappointment 
so  readily  detects  in  others,  were  all  component  parts  of  that 
motley  throng  that  made  that  gay  thoroughfare  so  brilliant  in 
showy  dress,  beautiful  women,  and  high  social  dignitaries. 

There  were  also  to  be  seen  the  matrons  of  high  social 
position  and  influence,  playing  the  role  of  chaperone  and 
censor,  with  an  obsolete  husband  and  father  in  the  rear,  doing 
penance  in  gallantry  to  some  deserted  belle  faded  beyond  the 
climax,  or  some  social  heroine  just  returning  to  worldly  society 
and  pleasure  after  long  years  of  retirement  in  the  sorrow  and 
affliction  of  early  widowhood.  Among  the  moving  mass 
were  dignified  Senators,  distinguished  jurists,  many  previous 
and  light-hearted  Representatives,  and  a  multitude  of  high  and 
low  officials  luminous  with  importance  and  voluble  with  east- 
wind,  with  here  and  there  along  the  way  a  foreign  ambassa- 
dor, and  many  more  attaches,  always  commanding  the  polite 
deference  and  civility  of  cultivated  and  friendly  people.  The 
President  was  not  then,  as  now,  a  stranger  to  the  public  on 
such  promenade  occasions.  Fillmore  and  Pierce  quite  fre- 
quently, Taylor  and  Buchanan  occasionally,  joined  the  mov- 
ing throng,  to  whom  every  gentleman  in  passing  paid  the 
homage  of  respect  with  lifted  hat  and  courteous  bow.  There 
were  others,  as  now,  though  not  so  many  as  then,  and  mostly 
of  the  masculine  kind,  who  sought  the  promenade  not  so  much 
to  meet  and  greet  friends  and  to  share  the  pleasure  of  the 
social  and  colloquial  pastime  and  exercise  as  to  bid  defiance 
to  the  ordinary  and  customary  amenities  of  good  breeding  on 
such  occasions.  They  tramped  the  thoroughfare  in  lordly 
disdain  of  society,  contemned  because  of  their  deserved  exclu- 
sion, some  in  tailor-made  clothes  in  loud  display,  others  with 
suits  from  misfit  establishments,  or  slop-shops,  as  cheap 
ready-made  clothing  stores  were  then  denominated,  and  others 
with  ruffled  shirt-bosoms  emblazoned  with  glittering  diamonds, 


PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES.  89 

and  heavy  fob-chains  pendant  with  precious  stones — the  pelf 
of  ill-gotten  gain.  This  last  class  most  usually  congregated 
in  front  of  some  one  or  more  of  the  numerous  haunts  desig- 
nated by  windows  draped  with  hangings  in  red,  through 
which  the  red  light  shone  after  nightfall,  and  doors  guarded 
by  the  ever-present  and  vigilant  servant-man,  whose  master 
was  always  out  unless  the  caller  was  known  to  have  money  to 
lose,  or  some  pimp  bade  him  stand  aside.  Gambling-hells  were 
more  numerous  then  along  the  beautiful  street  than  drinking- 
saloons  are  to-day,  and  countless  thousands  of  dollars  changed 
•  hands  in  those  apartments  during  the  sessions  of  Congress. 
Crops  of  cotton,  sugar,  rice,  and  tobacco,  manufacturer's 
profits,  and  large  retainers  went  the  "  way  the  woodbine 
twineth."  The  largest  and  most  sumptuous  establishment 
of  the  kind  was  located  between  Sixth  and  Four-and-a-half 
Streets,  and  kept  by  a  member  of  a  noted  Virginia  family, 
whose  wife  owned  the  handsomest  equipage  in  the  city.  She 
was  always  accompanied  when  driving  by  two  beautiful  coach 
dogs  at  pace  and  place.  She  was  well  known  for  her  many 
good  works,  and  not  wholly  tabooed  by  society.  I  have 
often  seen  men  of  high  repute  walk  leisurely  along  until 
directly  opposite  the  entrance,  then  turn  suddenly  to  the 
right  or  left  and  disappear  behind  the  quickly  closed  door. 
It  was  very  currently  reported  that  a  distinguished  statesman, 
whose  exemplary  son  has  risen  to  high  distinction,  took  his 
meals  regularly  at  the  free  banquet  table  of  that  popular 
resort. 

There  were  others  of  the  sort  who  did  not  do  rightly  on  all 
occasions,  but  who  seek  notoriety  in  brazen  effrontery  and 
gaping  insolence.  This  class  usually  assembled  in  groups 
about  the  entrances  to  the  principal  hotels — the  National, 
Brown's,  now  the  Metropolitan,  and  Willard's — dressed  in 
the  picturesque  styles  of  bad  taste  and  worse  breeding,  and 
indulged  in  ribald  criticism  of  the  victims  of  their  ill-bred 
obscurity.  Most  of  them  were  lovers  of  the  weed  ;  some 
stood  in  divers  attitudes,  puffing  and  talking,  others  spat  at 


90  PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES. 

competitive  distances  across  the  sidewalk,  taking  gleeful 
pleasure  in  the  filthy  annoyance.  The  cigarette  fiend  is  a 
more  recent  product  of  civilization. 

Some  of  the  friends  now  living  of  the  notorious  and  pro- 
fligate class  of  that  decade — 1848-58 — may  think  it  invidious 
to  name  two  of  the  most  widely  known  men  whose  lives  and 
habits  were  so  closely  associated  with  the  aesthetic  history  of 
Pennsylvania  Avenue  during  that  memorable  period.  Beau 
Hickman  was  the  prince  of  loafers,  though  not  innately  a  bad 
man.  He  lived  and  enjoyed  the  life  of  an  habitual  loafer,  by 
sponging  at  will  and  pleasure  upon  the  willing  and  unwill- 
ing, with  such  grace  and  sang  froid  that  few  could  escape  the 
artifice  of  his  trivial  but  harmless  jokes,  for  which  he  always 
demanded  immediate  payment  by  naming  the  pittance  or 
trifle,  which  was  quickly  paid  rather  than  be  held  by  the 
buttonhole  to  listen  to  an  asinine  alliteration.  He  never 
refused  an  invitation  to  drink,  but  always  took  its  equivalent 
in  cigars  or  a  sandwich.  How  else  he  lived  except  by  such 
favors  or  where  he  made  his  home,  other  than  on  the  avenue 
between  Seventh  and  Four-and-a-half  Streets,  no  one  seemed 
to  know.  There  he  walked  to  and  fro,  neatly  but  plainly 
dressed,  with  cane  in  hand,  limping  slightly  to  shield  a  gouty 
toe,  or  stood  waiting  and  watching  for  some  victim,  always 
returning  recognition  with  a  pleasant  salutation,  and  never 
obtruding  himself  upon  one  who  had  proscribed  his  acquain- 
tance. 

The  Hon.  Felix  K.  McConnell,  M.  C.  from  Alabama,  was 
an  habitue  of  the  street  only  during  the  sessions  of  Congress, 
but  then  he  was  so  constantly  on  the  street,  exhibiting  himself, 
as  was  his  wont  to  do,  that  no  one  who  witnessed  his  esca- 
pades could  forget  the  brawling  debauche,  who  was  never 
himself  unless  intoxicated.  As  a  debater  and  parliamenta- 
rian he  belonged  to  the  class  of  Champ  Clark,  who  said  least 
when  he  talked  most,  and  was  less  asinine,  if  more  drunken. 
Unlike  Beau  Hickman,  he  never  condoned  an  invitation  to 
drink  with  cigars  and  sandwiches,  nor  waited  for  an  invita- 


PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES.  91 

tion,  but  took  it  straight  to  the  full  measure  of  carriage 
capacity,  and  then  took  station  at  some  conspicuous  locality 
along  the  promenade  to  draw  around  him  a  crowd  of  jeering 
admirers,  to  the  great  annoyance  of  respectable  people. 
Strange  as  it  may  seem,  he  Avas  always  well  dressed  in  the 
latest  style  of  fashionable  clothing,  exhibiting  good  taste  in 
appearance  if  not  in  manners. 

Pennsylvania  Avenue  was  not  so  much  of  a  driveway  then 
as  now.  The  cobblestone  pavement  was  not  so  inviting  to  the 
pleasure  drivers  as  the  asphalt.  During  sleighing  seasons, 
and  they  seem  to  have  t)eeii  more  often  than  during  late 
years,  the  sleighing  tournaraeuts  brought  out  very  many  and 
a  great  variety  of  sleighing  vehicles  and  many  handsome 
teams  and  single  roadsters  of  great  speed  and  endurance, 
which  were  witnessed  by  immense  concourses  of  citizens. 

The  story  of  Pennsylvania  Avenue  will  not  be  complete 
without  reference  to  the  eastern  and  western  subdivisions. 
The  latter  extended  from  Seventeenth  Street  to  Georgetown. 
It  was  a  rudely  and  ruggedly  macadamized  roadway,  defined 
along  each  side  by  a  brick  sidewalk,  with  here  and  there  com- 
pact rows  and  isolated  ancieut-looking  dwellings,  and,  at 
irregular  locations,  retail  stores  for  neighborhood  accommo- 
dation. Of  course,  there  were  some-  dram,  candy,  and  such- 
like shops,  where  wearied  and  hungry  pedestrians  could  obtain 
needy  beverages,  molasses  candy,  and  some  lady-finger  cakes. 
This  part  of  the  avenue  was  supposed  to  limit,  by  a  sharp 
line  through  its  centre,  the  diffusion  of  malaria  disseminated 
from  the  flats  and  river  shore  from  Seventeenth  Street  to 
the  confluence  of  Rock  Creek.  As  the  conditions  have 
changed  since  the  reclamation  of  the  river  flats  and  removal 
of  the  National  Observatory,  my  good  friends  will  forgive 
the  statement  that  the  region  thus  defined,  then  known  as  the 
exclusive  "  West  End,"  where  many  "  old  families"  claiming 
Colonial  descent  and  fashionable  dignitaries  resided,  was  sup- 
plied with  malaria  so  dense  that  it  could  be  sliced  into  blocks, 
followed  people  in  fierce  pursuit  at  every  turn  during  the  day. 


92  PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES. 

howled  under  the  eaves  at  night,  stole  through  their  stomachs 
and  sneaked  under  the  nether  garments,  and  so  prevalently 
afflicted  the  residents  with  fever  and  ague,  with  chills  that 
shook  their  joints  loose  and  made  their  hair  stand  on  ends, 
that  many  came  all  the  way  to  Capitol  Hill  to  get  cured. 

The  avenue  was,  however,  enlivened  twice  daily  on  the 
sidewalk  north  of  the  border-line  of  malarial  diffusion  by  the 
many  respectable  and  venerable  gentlemen  hurriedly  going  on 
foot  to  their  offices  in  the  early  forenoon,  and  returning  leis- 
urely after  office  hours  to  their  happy  homes  in  Georgetown. 
During  the  day  it  was  mainly  a  traffic  street,  communicating 
with  the  shipping  wharves  and  flour  mills  of  Georgetown  and 
the  charcoal  interests  of  Coonny,  across  the  river,  in  Alex- 
andria County,  Virginia.  The  charcoal-burners  came  regu- 
larly and  frequently  with  their  wagons  laden  with  the  pro- 
duct, and  brawled  it  for  sale  through  the  streets  at  so  much 
per  barrel,  bushel,  or  handful,  and  returned  with  empty 
wagons  and  drunken  drivers ;  but  they,  like  the  wood- 
sawyers,  have  disappeared  from  Washington  society,  and 
Coonny  has  been  obliterated  from  the  topography  of  suburban 
Virginia. 

The  eastern  subdivision  was  even  less  attractive  as  a  resi- 
dence street.  It  was  a  wide  unpaved  thoroughfare,  with  paved 
sidewalks  only  in  front  of  a  few  squares,  a  few  isolated  dwell- 
ing-houses, and  some  shops  of  the  minor  retail  class.  It  was 
mainly  a  traffic  street,  and  the  most  direct  communication 
with  the  rich  farming  region  of  Prince  George  County,  Mary- 
land, from  which  the  city  obtained  a  large  part  of  its  supplies 
of  farm  products,  brought  hither  mostly  in  carts  drawn  by 
one,  two,  or  three  yokes  of  oxen.  From  daylight  till  late 
morning  on  market-days  at  the  Centre  Market,  Tuesdays, 
Thursdays,  and  Saturdays  of  each  week  during  the  year,  these 
heavily  laden  two-wheeled  carts,  more  rarely  four-wheeled 
wagons,  would  pass  in  slow  succession  to  and  return  in  the 
afternoons  from  the  market,  accompanied  only  by  the  slave- 
drivers,  who  drove  the  beasts  by  the  crack  of  their  whips  and 


PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES.  93 

a  vociferous  jargon  made  up  of  sounds  that  only  such  crea- 
tures could  utter,  but  made  sleep  impossible  for  any  person 
within  hearing.  The  drivers  were  dressed  in  picturesque 
styles  of  clothing,  of  composite  colors,  in  the  variety  of  inde- 
scribably shaped  patches  arranged  at  random  to  suit  the  econ- 
omies of  the  makers  and  menders,  with  a  head-gear  or  cover 
made  of  the  skins  of  rabbits,  squirrels,  or  possums,  occasion- 
ally adorned  with  a  rim  of  some  woven  material  in  fancy 
color.  Following  these  trains  of  freighted  vehicles  would 
come  the  masters  of  high  and  low  repute,  in  lordly  array, 
some  on  fleeting  steeds  of  renowned  pedigrees,  others  with 
double  teams  in  C-spring  coaches  hanging  high  and  entered 
by  way  of  folding  stair-cases,  driven  by  slave  coachmen  in 
the  livery  of  the  masters'  cast-oiF  suits,  and  footmen  either 
couched  behind  on  the  trunk-rack  or  holding  upright  by  tas- 
selled  straps  fastened  to  the  rim  of  the  top  high  above.  It 
was  a  caravan  of  noble  beasts,  rude  transportation  vehicles, 
swarthy  serfs  in  happy  wretchedness,  and  rich  planters,  old 
and  young,  in  proud  display  of  abundant  harvest  and  show 
of  pride  and  wealth.  All  this  has  passed  and  been  forgotten, 
save  by  the  few  who  have  seen  the  primitive  city  grow  into  a 
metropolis. 

During  the  early  part  of  the  decade — 1848-58— when 
Congress  was  in  session  I  passed  much  of  my  leisure  time 
in  the  galleries  of  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives, 
watching  the  conduct  of  business  and  listening  to  the  set 
speeches  of  distinguished  men,  or  to  some  colloquial  debate, 
which  occurred  very  often  and  usually  unexpectedly,  incident 
to  some  attack  upon  some  measure  under  consideration.  In 
this  inanner  I  became  very  familiar  with  the  style  of  discus- 
sion and  the  parliamentary  habits  and  conduct  of  many  of 
the  famous  men  of  the  nation.  I  have  frequently  heard 
Webster,  Clay,  Calhoun,  Benton,  Lewis  Cass,  Clayton ; 
Douglas  and  Shields,  of  Illinois ;  William  R.  King ;  Dick- 
son H.  Lewis,  the  largest  man  who  ever  occupied  a  seat  in 
the  Senate ;  Hunter  and  Mason,  of  Virginia  ;  Yulee,  West- 


94  PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES. 

cott,  and  Malloiy,  of  Florida ;  Sain  Houston  ;  Jefferson 
Davis  and  Henry  S.  Foote,  of  Mississippi  ;  John  P.  Hale, 
Jesse  D.  Bright,  Edward  Everett ;  "William  H.  Se\yard  and 
Dickinson,  of  New  York ;  Mangnm  and  Badger,  of  North 
Carolina ;  A.  P.  Butler,  Evans,  and  Hammond,  of  South 
Carolina;  Dodge  and  son;  Benjamin,  Slidell,  and  Soule,  of 
Louisiana,  and  many  others,  Senators  during  that  period. 
Foote  carried  a  free  lance.  His  style  was  voluble,  vehe- 
ment, and  invective,  and  did  not  leave  a  lasting  impression. 
I  have  witnessed  many  of  his  attacks  upon  Benton  and  Sew- 
ard, to  which  neither  of  them  paid  much  attention.  Benton 
would  sit  quietly,  apparently  undisturbed,  and  Seward  would 
listen,  but  made  no  reply.  His  rencounters  with  Hale  were 
more  interesting,  because  the  latter  always  replied  and  seemed 
to  get  the  advantage,  because  of  his  wit  and  powers  of  ridicule. 
I  heard  the  colloquy  between  Webster  and  Calhoun  defining 
the  meaning  of  the  words  in  the  Declaration  of  Independence, 
"All  men  are  created  free  and  equal."  Mr.  Calhoun  with 
marked  emphasis  declared,  "Babies,  not  men, were  born."  I 
heard  mucli  of  the  discussion  in  the  Senate  on  the  compro- 
mise measures  of  1850,  including  the  "Fugitive  Slave  law." 
I  have  heard  Mr.  Webster  before  the  Supreme  Court,  in  the 
Senate,  and  was  present  at  the  laying  of  the  corner-stone  of 
the  extension  of  the  Capitol,  July  4,  1851,  and  heard  his 
oration.  I  was  standing  near  enough  when  he  stepped  from 
his  carriage  to  hear  him  say  to  his  companion,  "  I  wish  to  go 
to  some  private  room  to  make  some  addenda  to  my  speech." 
I  was  present  at  the  funeral  services  of  jNIr.  Calhoun,  March, 
1850,  who  died  in  the  house  kept  by  Mrs.  Hill,  since  remod- 
elled and  subdivided  into  three  commodious  dwellings,  now 
occupied  by  Mrs.  Dunn,  Mrs.  Condit-Smith,  and  Mr.  Justice 
Field.  And  also  of  Mr.  Clay,  in  June,  1852.  I  was  in  the 
Senate  gallery  when  the  death  of  President  Taylor  was  an- 
nounced in  a  communication  from  Mr.  Fillmore,  to  which  he 
affixed  his  signature,  with  the  designation  "  late  Vice-Presi- 
dent of  the  United  States,"  and  also  in  the  gallery  of  the 


PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES.  95 

House  of  Representatives  when  he — the  same  day — took  the 
oath  of  office  in  the  presence  of  the  Senate  and  House  of 
Representatives. 

When  I  came  to  this  city  Robert  C.  Winthrop  was  Speaker 
of  the  House  of  Representatives.  I  have  witnessed  many 
parliamentary  tilts  and  acrimonious  debates  in  the  days  of 
Stevens,  Tombs,  Andrew  Johnson,  George  W.  Jones,  Edward 
Stanley,  Thomas  L.  Cliugman,  William  L  Orr,  Baily  (of  Vir- 
ginia), Joshua  R.  Giddings,  David  Wilmot,  and  the  "  Fire- 
eaters  of  the  South  "  and  "  Black  Republicans  of  the  North," 
the  designations  of  the  two  factious  of  extremists  who  held 
furious  sway  over  the  councils  of  the  nation.  I  heard  Charles 
Allen,  of  Massachusetts,  in  1852,  during  the  consideration  of 
the  bill  to  pay  the  last  instalment  of  the  Mexican  indemnity, 
charge  that  Daniel  Webster,  then  Secretary  of  State,  was  a 
"  stipendiary  of  Wall  Street,  New  York,  and  State  Street, 
Boston,"  and  witnessed  the  furore  of  indignation  and  spon- 
taneous defence  by  his  friends  on  the  floor.  I  was  present 
at  the  termination  of  the  protracted  struggle  that  resulted 
in  the  election  of  Nathaniel  P.  Banks  Speaker,  and  heard 
his  inaugural  address.  I  saw  the  corner-stone  of  the 
AVashington  Monument  laid  July  4,  1848,  and  heard  Mr. 
Wiuthrop's  oration,  and  witnessed  its  completion  and  dedica- 
tion. 

I,  with  my  elder  half-brother,  was  present  at  the  inaugura- 
tion of  William  Henry  Harrison,  attended  the  reception  at 
the  Executive  Mansion,  and  shook  hands  with  the  Presi- 
dent, and  have  seen  every  President  since,  excepting  John 
Tyler,  James  K.  Polk,  and  Chester  A.  Arthur,  inaugurated. 
I  was  a  student  at  the  Rockville  Academy  when  Polk  was 
inaugurated,  and,  like  most  of  the  students,  was  among  the 
disappointed  class,  and  did  not  care  to  come  to  Washington 
City  to  witness  the  inauguration  of  the  man  who  had  defeated 
Henry  Clay. 

I  have  narrated  the  foregoing  incidents  and  occurrences  of 
the  earlier  years  of  my  residence  in  this  city  as  a  fitting  con- 


96  PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES 

elusion  of  this  chapter  of  reminiscenees.  If  time  and  space 
permitted,  I  might  have  enlarged  the  narrative  and  referred 
to  many  circumstances  of  more  general  interest  and  signifi- 
cance, but  I  forbear  to  tax  the  memory  with  events  long  since 
passed  and  not  seen  by  many  now  living. 


CHAPTER  V. 

American  Medical  Association.     Menu  of  Banquet.     Poem  by  Holmes. 

Ix  1853  I  was  one  of  five  delegates  from  the  Medical  Asso- 
ciation of  the  District  of  Columbia  to  the  American  Medical 
Association,  which  assembled  in  the  city  of  New  York.  I 
recall  my  first  official  connection  with  that  great  body  of  rep- 
resentative medical  men  of  the  country,  because  of  the  fact 
that  I  was  the  youngest  man  who  had  been  at  that  date 
elected  a  delegate  to  that  body  from  this  city,  aud,  moreover, 
because  of  the  pleasure  I  derived  from  attendance  at  the  mag- 
nificent banquet  given  by  the  profession  of  the  City  of  New 
York,  at  which  Dr.  Oliver  Wendell  Holmes  delivered  a 
poem,  written  for  the  occasion,  a  copy  of  which,  together 
with  the  menu,  printed  on  satin,  are  now  in  my  possession, 
transcripts  of  which  are  here  appended.  Wines  were  omitted 
from  the  menu,  nevertheless  they  were  served  in  abundance 
and  great  variety. 

DINXEK  TO  THE  AMERICAX  MEDICAL  ASSOCIATION 


PHYSICIANS  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY, 

AT 

Metropolitax  Hall,  May  5,  1853. 

bill  of  faee. 

Soups. 

Turtle,  Oyster,  Potage  a  la  Reine. 

Fish . 
Boiled  Salmon,  Anchovy  Sauce.  Baked  Black  Fish. 

Boiled  Cod,  Oyster  Sauce.  Baked  Sheep's-head. 

7 


98 


PEHSONAL  BEMiyiSCENCES. 


Boiled. 

Westphalia  Hams,  Champagne  Sauce. 

Capons,  Celeiy  Sauce. 

Spiced  Beef, 

Tongues. 

Calves'  Head, 

Mutton,  Caper  Sauce, 

Roast. 

Beef. 

Turkeys. 

Mutton  Saddles,  Currant  Jelly. 

Chickens. 

Lamb,  Mint  Sauce. 

Ducks. 

Veal. 

Capons. 

Cold  Dishes. 

Boned  Turkey, 

Boar's  Head. 

Stewed  Terrapin, 
Game  Patties, 

Oyster  Patties, 

Oysters,  Fried, 
Oysters  au  Gratin, 

Pigeon  Patties,  Artificial, 
Salmis  of  Chicken, 
Veal  Cutlets,  Tomato  Sauce. 


Entrees. 


Sweetbreads  a  la  St.  Cloud. 
Lamb  Chops,  Peas. 
Lobster  Salad. 

Chicken  Salad. 
Macaroni  a  L'ltalienne. 

Chicken  Liver,  En  Caisse. 
Pigeon  a  la  Jardiniere. 
Filet  de  Boeuf,  with  Mushrooms. 


Grouse. 


Red  Heads. 


Game. 
Broad  Bills. 


Brandt. 


Squabs. 


Asparagus, 
Spinach, 

Lima  Beans, 
Tomatoes 


Vegetables. 
Turnips,  Potatoes,  in  variety. 

Beets,  Peas. 

Cucumbers,  Pickles,  assorted. 

Lettuce,  Olives. 

Celery. 


Pastry  and  Confectionery. 
Plum  Pudding,  Ginger  Pudding. 

Coburg  Pudding,  Pudding  a  la  Glace. 

Cabinet  Pudding,  Meringues  a  la  Creme. 

Lemon  Pudding,  Pies  and  Tarts,  assorted. 

American  Pudding,  Charlotte  Eusse. 

Ornamental  Pyramids  of  National  and  Professional  Designs  of 
Nougat,  Oranges,  etc. 
Jellies.  Blanc  Mange. 

Ices. 

Vanilla  Cream,  Eoman  Punch. 

Lemon  Cream,  Strawberry  Cream,  Orange  Sherbet. 


PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES.  99 

Fruits. 
Strawberries,  Pineapples,  Oranges. 

Apples,  Bananas,  Grapes. 

Crystallized  and  Dried  Fruits,  etc. 

Coffee. 

Response  of  Oliver  Wendell  Holmes,  M.D.,  to  the  follow- 
ing toast,  proposed  at  the  entertainment  given  to  the  American 
Medical  Association  by  the  physicians  of  the  City  of  Xew 
York,  at  Metropolitan  Hall,  on  the  5th  of  May,  1853 : 

loast — "  The  Union  of  Science  and  Literature — a  happy  marriage, 
the  fruits  of  which  are  nowhere  seen  to  better  advantage  than  in  our 
American  Holmes.'" 

I  hold  a  letter  in  my  hand — 

A  flattering  letter — more's  the  j^ity — 
By  some  contriving  junto  planned. 

And  signed  per  order  of  Committee  ; 
It  touches  every  tenderest  spot, — 

My  patriotic  predilections — 
My  well  known — something — don't  ask  what — 

My  poor  old  songs — my  kind  affections. 

They  make  a  feast  on  Thursday  next, 

And  hope  to  make  the  feasters  merry ; 
They  own  they're  something  more  perplext 

For  poets  than  for  port  and  shei'ry ; 
They  want  the  men  of — (word  torn  out) ; 

Our  friends  will  come  with  anxious  faces, 
(To  see  our  blankets  off,  no  doubt. 

And  trot  us  out  and  show  our  paces). 

They  hint  that  papers  by  the  score 

Are  rather  musty  kind  of  rations  ; 
They  don't  exactly  mean  a  bore. 

But  only  trying  to  their  patience ; 
That  such  as — you  know  who  I  mean — 

Distinguished  for  their — what  d'  ye  call  'em — 
Should  bring  the  dews  of  Hippocrcne 

To  sprinkle  on  the  faces  solemn. 


100  PERSONAL  BEMIXISCENCES. 

The  same  old  story  ;  that's  the  chaff 

To  catch  the  birds  that  sing  the  ditties  ; 
Upon  my  soul,  it  makes  me  laugh 

To  read  these  letters  fi"om  committees ! 
They  're  all  so  loving  and  so  fair — 

All  for  your  sake  such  kind  compunction — 
'T  would  save  your  carriage  half  its  wear 

To  grease  the  wheels  with  such  an  unction ! 

Why,  who  am  I,  to  lift  me  here 

And  beg  such  learned  folk  to  listen — 
To  ask  a  smile,  or  coax  a  tear 

Beneath  those  stoic  lids  to  glisten  ? 
As  well  might  some  arterial  thread 

Ask  the  whole  frame  to  feel  its  gushing, 
While  throbbing  fierce  from  heel  to  head 

The  vast  aortic  tide  was  rushing. 

As  well  some  hair-like  nerve  might  strain 

To  set  its  special  streamlet  going, 
While  through  the  myriad  channelled  brain 

The  burning  flood  of  thought  was  flowing — 
Or  trembling  fibre  strive  to  keep 

The  springing  haunches  gathered  shorter, 
While  the  scourged  racer,  leap  on  leap, 

Was  stretching  through  the  last  hot  quarter ! 

Ah  me  !  you  take  the  bud  that  came 

Self-sown  in  your  poor  garden's  borders, 
And  hand  it  to  the  stately  dame 

That  florists  breed  for,  all  she  orders ; 
She  thanks  you — it  was  kindly  meant — 

{A  pale  affair,  not  worth  the  keeping — ) 
Good  morning  ; — and  your  bud  is  sent 

To  join  the  tea  leaves  used  for  sweeping. 

Not  always  so,  kind  hearts  and  true — 

For  such  I  know  are  round  me  beating — 
Is  not  the  bud  I  offer  you — 

Fresh  gathered  for  the  hour  of  meeting — 
Pale  though  its  outer  leaves  may  be, 

Eose-red  in  all  the  inner  petals. 
Where  the  warm  life  we  cannot  see — 

The  life  of  love  that  gave  it,  settles  ? 


PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES.  IQl 

We  meet  from  regions  far  away 

Like  rills  from  distant  mountains  streaming ; 
•    The  sun  is  on  Francisco's  bay, 

O'er  Chesapeake  the  lighthouse  gleaming ; 
While  summer  skirts  the  still  bayou 

With  every  leaf  that  makes  it  brighter, 
Monadnock  sees  the  sky  grow  blue 

And  clasps  his  ciystal  bracelet  tighter. 

Yet  Nature  bears  the  self-same  heart 

Beneath  her  russet-mantled  bosom, 
As  where,  with  burning  lips  apart, 

She  breathes,  and  white  magnolias  blossom ; 
Ay !  many  a  cheek  is  kindled  here 

With  morning's  fire  as  richly  laden 
As  ever  Sultan  of  Cachemire 

Kissed  from  a  sun-enamelled  maiden ! 

I  give  you  Home  !  its  crossing  lines 

United  in  one  golden  suture. 
And  showing  every  day  that  shines 

The  present  growing  to  the  future — 
A  flag  that  bears  a  hundred  stars. 

In  one  bright  ring,  with  love  for  centre, 
Fenced  round  with  white  and  crimson  bars, 

No  pi'owling  treason  dares  to  enter  ! 

0  brothers,  home  may  be  a  word 

To  make  afiection's  living  treasure — 
The  wave  an  angel  might  have  stirred — 

A  stagnant  pool  of  selfish  pleasure  ; 
Home !     It  is  where  the  day-star  springs 

And  where  the  evening  sun  reposes, 
Where'er  the  eagle  spreads  his  wings 

From  northern  pines  to  southern  roses ! 

This  poem  may  be  found  at  page  132  of  The  Poetical 
Works  of  Oliver  Wendell  Holmes  (Household  Edition),  but 
without  the  caption  and  toast. 

Drs.  James  E.  Morgan,  Dove,  and  myself  occupied  the 
same  room  at  the  hotel.     We  returned  home  the  day  after 


102  PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES. 

the  banquet.  This  was  the  first  large  and  most  magnificent 
entertainment  I  had  ever  attended,  to  which  the  municipal 
banquet  given  by  the  City  of  Copenhagen  to  the  Ninth  Inter- 
national Medical  Congress  in  1884  was  only  comparable. 

It  is  very  improbable  that  any  other  person  present  at  the 
banquet  in  1853  has  preserved  a  copy  of  the  "  bill  of  fare." 
That  it  may  be  kept  as  a  memento  of  that  brilliant  occasion, 
and  a  memorial  of  the  generous  hospitality  of  the  physicians 
of  the  City  of  New  York,  I  have  deposited  it,  together  with 
the  printed  copy  of  the  poem  given  to  each  person  at  the 
table,  in  the  Library  of  the  Surgeon- General's  Office  in  this 
city. 


CHAPTER  yi. 

Discontent  and  AVant  of  Harmony  in  the  Profession.  Fees,  Grievances. 
Ethical  Disputes.  Arraignment  of  Members.  Gautier  Placard.  Meet- 
ing of  the  American  Medical  Association  in  1858.     The  Presidency. 

It  was  not  long  after  coming  here  that  I  discovered  that 
the  profession  was  not  a  harmonious  fraternity.  It  was  fre- 
quently occupied  with  the  consideration  of  questions  relating 
to  charges  for  professional  services  and  the  collection  of  ac- 
counts. The  fees  were  very  small  and  competition  was  very 
sharp.  Very  many  people  in  good  circumstances  were — very 
much  more  than  now — influenced  in  the  selection  of  a  physi- 
cian by  pecuniary  considerations,  and  there  was  a  prevalent 
belief  that  one  or  more  gentlemen  of  high-standing  and  doing 
large  business  were  soliciting  patients  by  very  moderate  fees 
or  no  charges  at  all.  Those  who  felt  compelled,  by  the  force 
of  circumstances  as  much  as  by  a  sense  of  justice  to  the  pro- 
fession at  large,  to  be  exact  in  charging  and  prompt  in  de- 
manding payment,  were  unwilling  to  recognize  the  propriety 
and  right  of  gratuitous  attendance  without  remonstrance. 

The  physicians  residing  in  Georgetown  had  been  admitted 
to  the  Association  only  upon  their  agreement  to  abandon  the 
system,  long  in  vogue  in  that  city,  of  accepting  a  yearly  fixed 
sum  of  money  for  services,  without  regard  to  the  amount  of 
services  rendered  to  an  individual  or  to  a  family ;  and  the 
suspicion  was  not  entirely  unfounded  that  some  members  were 
simply  evading  that  custom  by  accepting,  without  any  agree- 
ment, any  sum  the  individual  might  choose  to  oifer  for  yearly 
attendance. 

The  profession  of  the  District  of  Columbia  owes  to  John 
Frederick  May  a  debt  of  lasting  gratitude  for  teaching  the 
people  how  to  value  the  services  of  a  competent  physician,  for 


104  PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES. 

he  was  the  first  to  establish  a  corameusurate  value  of  medical 
and  surgical  services,  and  to  teach  the  community  that  poorly 
paid  and  free  medicine  was  generally  either  very  iudiiferent 
or  bad  medicine.  His  course  was  commended,  but  not  fol- 
lowed by  everybody^  and  whilst  there  was  occasionally  heard 
a  complaint,  it  did  not  affect  his  popularity  or  injure  his  busi- 
ness. The  doctrine  that  the  laborer  is  worthy  of  his  hire  was 
not  less  generally  accepted  then  than  now. 

Prior  to  1852,  and  for  some  years  afterward,  the  profession 
of  this  city  was  divided  into  two  hostile  factions  upon  lines 
so  sharply  drawn  that  individual  neutrality  was  barely  possi- 
ble. Medical  ethics,  personal  grievances,  college  interests, 
professional  jealousies,  persistent  disregard  of  accepted  codes 
and  regulations,  and  the  contemptuous  neglect  and  refusal  of 
many  resident  practitioners  to  join  the  Association  were  sources 
of  continuous  irritation,  sometimes  culminating  in  angry  dis- 
putes. These  small  frays  and  bickerings  continued  with  more 
or  less  acrimony  until  1857,  when  the  contentions  assumed 
greater  violence,  but  reached  their  maximum  intensity  in  1858. 

As  a  matter  of  record,  the  first  well-defined  incident  giving 
cause  for  dissension  seems  to  have  been  the  attempt  of  Dr. 
Noble  Young,  in  1849,  to  direct  the  President  of  the  Medical 
Society  of  the  District  of  Columbia,  who  had  been  by  vote  of 
the  society  authorized  to  appoint  five  delegates  to  the  Ameri- 
can Medical  Association,  to  select  all  of  them  from  those 
members  not  connected  with  any  medical  college.  This  move- 
ment antedated  by  eight  months  the  announcement  of  the 
organization  of  the  Medical  Department  of  Georgetown  Col- 
lege, but  it  was  evidently  inspired  by  a  feeling  of  jealousy  or 
rivalry  on  the  part  of  some,  if  not  all,  of  those  engaged  in  the 
negotiations  relating  to  the  establishment  of  the  Georgetown 
Medical  College.  The  motion  was  lost  by  a  decided  vote. 
This  was,  at  that  time,  apparently  a  very  trifling  incident, 
but  it  was  manifestly  the  initial  circumstance  of  subsequent, 
long-continued,  and  angry  dissensions,  which  happily  have 
now  ceased  and  been  forgotten. 


PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES.  105 

The  first  recollection  I  have  of  any  trial  before  the  Medical 
Association  of  the  District  of  Columbia  for  violation  of  its 
rules  and  regulations  was  the  arraignment  of  Dr.  James  C. 
Hall  for  neglecting  to  make  charges  and  failure  to  send  bills 
for  professional  services.  I  cannot  fix  the  date,  because  there 
is  no  record  of  any  meeting  of  the  Standing  Committee  of  the 
Association  between  November  23,  1846,  and  June  9,  1852, 
between  which  dates  it  must  have  occurred,  and  the  records 
of  the  meetings  of  the  Association  at  which  I  witnessed  the 
procedure  are  omitted.  Dr.  John  I.  Dyer,  of  this  city,  is  the 
only  other  person  living  who  could  have  been  a  witness,  and 
his  recollections  are  in  entire  accord  with  ray  own.  It  was 
certainly  subsequent  to  November  7,  1848,  the  date  of  my 
admission  to  the  Association,  and  was  probably  in  1850,  as 
Dr.  William  Jones  was  the  presiding  officer  at  the  time,  and 
he  succeeded  Mc Williams,  whose  death  was  announced  April 
1,  1850. 

Our  recollections  are  perfectly  distinct  and  agreed  that  the 
consideration  of  the  subject  occupied  the  attention  of  the  Asso- 
ciation during  several  meetings,  and  was  finally  abruptly  ter- 
minated by  the  admission  of  Dr.  Hall  that  the  allegations 
were  true.  He  arose  suddenly  and  unexpectedly,  and  with 
marked  emotion,  in  a  trembling  voice,  the  tears  trickling 
down  his  cheeks,  and,  banging  his  hat  between  his  hands,  said 
the  derelictions  as  charged  were  true,  excused  himself  with 
the  statement  that  he  did  not  need  the  money,  and  would  have 
retired  from  the  practice  of  medicine  if  he  had  known  any- 
thing else  in  which  to  engage,  but  that  he  was  absolutely 
afraid  of  idleness,  and  promised  that  he  would  in  the  future 
make  the  best  effort  he  could  to  comply  with  the  regulations 
of  the  Association.  Sometime  after  this  he  told  me  in  a 
private  conversation  that  at  his  invitation  Dr.  Harvey 
Lindsly  had  called  at  his  house  to  examine  his  accounts  and 
receipts,  and,  after  such  examination,  had  said  to  him  that  his 
(Hall's)  annual  receipts  exceeded  in  amount  the  income  of  any 
physician  practising  medicine  in  the  city  at  that  time,  all  of 


106  PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES. 

which   had  been  paid  without  the  presentation  of  a  single 
account. 

Of  the  many  causes  of  the  prevailing  discontent  and  irrita- 
tion, perhaps  not  one  occasioned  so  much  recrimination  as  the 
statement  made  and  reiterated  in  derogation  of  the  professional 
character  and  standing  of  Dr.  C.  H.  Lieberraann,  sometimes 
so  far  transgressing  the  limits  of  propriety  as  to  charge  that  he 
was  not  a  graduate  in  medicine  and  did  not  possess  the  legal 
qualifications  to  practise  any  branch  of  his  profession.  Lieber- 
mann  himself  did  not  seem  to  be  disturbed  by  these  assaults, 
and  would  ouly  occasionally  refer  to  them  in  a  very  desultory 
manner. 

After  the  organization  of  the  Medical  Department  of 
Georgetown  College,  of  which  he  was  the  Professor  of  Sur- 
gery, the  contention  assumed  a  much  more  serious  aspect. 
The  President  of  the  Medical  Faculty  took  the  matter  up,  and 
very  speedily  brought  it  to  the  attention  of  the  Association 
by  having  referred  to  the  Standing  Committee  a  mass  of  docu- 
mentary evidence  to  establish  the  scientific  attainments  and 
moral  character  of  Dr.  Liebermann.  After  a  thorough  exam- 
ination the  committee  reported,  June  23, 1852,  that  among  the 
papers  and  certificates  there  were  found  a  certificate  of  matricu- 
lation in  the  University  of  Berlin,  a  diploma  from  the  same  in 
proper  form,  conferring  the  degree  of  doctor  of  medicine  and 
surgery,  and  numerous  other  papers  and  certificates  from  dif- 
ferent professors  attesting  his  proficiency  in  his  studies,  his 
good  moral  character  and  high  standing,  all  highly  creditable, 
and  satisfying  the  committee  that  he  had  in  every  particular 
conformed  to  the  usage  and  fulfilled  all  the  requirements  de- 
manded by  said  university  to  entitle  him  to  the  degree  of 
M.D.  and  to  practise  medicine,  surgery,  and  midwifery. 
The  triumph  of  Liebermann  and  his  friends  was  so  over- 
whelming that  his  enemies  skulked  under  cover  of  chagrin 
and  mortification  to  carp  in  seclusion  and  silence.  The  vindi- 
cation did  not,  however,  bring  peace,  comity,  and  fraternity. 
Passion  was  on  the  war-path.     The  victors  laughed  in  merry 


PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES.  107 

scorn  over  tlieir  success,  and  the  vanquished  nursed  in  vin- 
dictive remorse  their  decisive  rout. 

The  American  Medical  Association  assembled  in  the  city  of 
Nashville  in  May,  1857.  No  delegate  was  in  attendance  from 
this  city.  A  member  of  the  local  Association  sent  a  commu- 
nication to  it  inviting  that  body  to  hold  its  next  session — 
1858 — in  this  city,  without  the  knowledge  or  consent  of  the 
profession  of  this  city,  and  at  the  same  time  forwarded  a  large 
placard,  issued  by  Gautier,  a  confectioner  then  doing  business 
at  the  corner  of  Twelfth  Street  and  Pennsylvania  Avenue, 
which  was  an  advertisement  of  "Herb  drops,"  manufactured 
by  himself,  to  which  were  added  the  names  of  a  number  of  the 
most  distinguished  men  of  the  city,  indorsing  the  drops  as  a 
remedy  "  for  coughs,  colds,  and  bronchitis."  He  accompanied 
this  communication  with  some  comments  on  "Quackery  in 
High  Life,"  and  subsequently  published  in  Butler's  Medical 
Journal  an  anonymous  communication  entitled  "  Quackery  in 
High  Life."  The  American  Medical  Association  accepted  the 
invitation  to  meet  the  next  year  in  this  city,  and  referred  the 
communication,  with  the  placard,  to  the  local  Association  for 
such  consideration  as  it  might  deem  proper.  The  storm  that 
followed  can  be  better  imagined  than  told.  Upon  receipt  of 
the  information  the  matter  was  referred  to  the  Standing  Com- 
mittee. In  the  meantime  Drs.  Thomas  Miller,  R.  K.  Stone, 
A.  Y.  P.  Garnett,  C.  H.  Liebermann,  and  W.  H.  Berry 
filed  written  statements  denying  that  they  had  either  directly 
or  indirectly  authorized  Gautier  to  use  their  names,  and  dis- 
avowed having  countenanced  the  manufacture  and  use  of  the 
"  Herb  drops."  Dr.  John  F.  May  adopted  a  more  decisive 
and  summary  method  by  publishing  in  the  press  an  immedi- 
ate and  emphatic  disavowal  of  any  knowledge  of  the  manu- 
facture of  the  drops  or  of  the  use  of  his  name  before  the 
receipt  of  the  placard  from  Nashville.  The  gentlemen  were 
fully  and  completely  exonerated  of  the  charges,  but  their 
wrath  was  not  appeased.  They  determined  to  prosecute  their 
accuser.     The  gentlemen  implicated  in  the  placard  imbroglio 


108  PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES. 

were  men  of  high  standing  and  great  force  of  character  who 
felt  that  the  accusation  and  indiscreet  method  of  procedure 
by  their  accuser  reflected  upon  their  personal  honor  and  im- 
peached their  professional  integrity.  A  record  had  been  made 
which  could  not  be  obliterated,  and  they  claimed,  not  without 
some  show  of  reason,  that  the  unanimous  vindication  and 
declaration  of  blamelessness  was  incomplete  Avithout  the  in- 
fliction of  summary  punishment  upon  the  member  who  had 
inaugurated  the  unfortunate  and  indiscreet  procedure.  They 
lost  sight  of  the  fact  that  the  report  of  the  Standing  Commit- 
tee had  not  been  unanimous,  and  that  there  was  a  minority  of 
its  members  who  could  not  quite  accept  the  theory  that  such  a 
placard  could  be  printed,  circulated,  and  come  to  the  knowledge 
of  others  not  concerned  in  the  matter,  and  not  to  the  accused 
until  its  presentation  to  the  American  ]Medical  Association  in 
session  at  Nashville;  and  whilst  their  written  disavowals  had 
been  accepted  without  a  division,  there  was  a  large  number,  if 
not  a  majority,  who  would  not  permit  the  accuser  to  be  humil- 
iated and  disgraced  without  a  stubborn  defence.  The  con- 
tention was  angry  and  fierce.  Just  at  the  moment  when  the 
defence  were  ready  to  grasp  the  victory  the  victim  submitted 
in  writing  a  confession  of  haste  and  wrong  in  making  the 
accusation,  and  an  apology  for  his  conduct.  This  was  ac- 
cepted, and  the  scene  of  excitement  and  turbulence  terminated, 
but  the  bad  feeling  between  the  hostile  factions  was  not  only 
not  abated  but  acquired  force  and  malevolence.  During  the 
succeeding  six  months  hostilities  were  confined  to  skirmishes 
between  small  detachments  in  accidental  meetings,  but  the 
feud  was  kept  in  constant  foment  by  both  parties  in  discuss- 
ing and  devising  plans  to  thwart  each  other. 

It  Avas  not  so  much  the  gravity  of  the  ethical  impropriety 
and  indiscretion  committed  by  the  voluntary  communication 
to  the  Association  at  Nashville  as  it  was  the  existing  embit- 
ered  feeling  which  instigated  this  most  remarkable  and  unique 
controversy.  Yet  no  one  who  may  recognize  the  informer  as 
the  physician  who  is  reputed  to  have  administered  a  seidlitz 


PEBSOXAL  REMISISCEXCES.  109 

powder  by  first  giving  the  acid  in  solution,  and  then  the 
alkali  in  solution,  ought  to  be  surprised  at  the  denouement. 

In  proof  of  the  bad  feeling  existing  I  reproduce  the  follow- 
ing extract  from  a  printed  circular  offered  before  a  committee 
of  the  House  of  Representatives  by  a  member  of  the  Associ- 
ation : 

Finally.  I  have  received  an  invitation  to  be  present  at  the  meeting 
of  the  honourable  committee  through  a  gentleman  whose  offensive 
position  alone  compels  me  to  speak,  and  to  say  that  he  only  escaped 
by  a  written  apology  expulsion  from  the  Medical  Association  of  this 
District  for  a  wicked  attempt  to  have  expelled  our  oldest  and  best- 
known  practitioners  from  the  National  Medical  Association,  then  sit- 
ting at  Nashville,  a  body  which  is  the  professional  life  of  medical  men. 

Dr.  Harvey  Lindsly,  who  occupied  a  position  of  inoffen- 
sive neutrality,  was  the  Chairman  of  the  Committee  of 
Arrangements  for  the  meeting  of  the  American  Medical  Asso- 
ciation. The  preparations  progressed  slowly,  with  sullen  and 
unsatisfactory  acquiescence  of  both  parties,  but  without  any 
open  collision.  The  Presidency  engrossed  the  attention  of 
both  factions,  and  both  were  conniving  to  secure  the  repre- 
sentative on  the  Nominating  Committee. 

There  were  no  candidates  soliciting  the  office,  nor  any  an- 
nouncement of  candidacy,  but  several,  all  belonging  to  the 
same  factions,  were  in  hopeful  expectancy  of  the  distinguished 
honor.  I  was  absent  from  the  city  during  the  winter  of 
1857—58  on  a  visit  in  Alabama,  and  upon  my  return  in  the 
spring  learned  that  the  antagonism  had  cropped  out  at  the 
annual  meeting  of  the  Medical  Society  in  January,  1858,  but 
neither  party  was  entirely  satisfied  with  the  result  of  the  elec- 
tion of  delegates,  because  a  number  of  them  were  not  positiv-ely 
identified  with  either  following.  The  contest  at  the  meeting 
of  the  delegates  from  the  District  of  Columbia  was  very  pro- 
tracted, terminating  finally  in  the  selection  of  Dr.  Noble 
Young  to  represent  the  District  of  Columbia  on  the  Nominat- 
ing Committee  of  this  Association.  Dr.  Young  was  avowedly 
opposed  to  the  election  to  the  Presidency  of  any  physician 


110  PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES. 

residing  in  this  District,  and  my  recollection  is  that  on  the 
final  ballot  I  cast  the  vote  which  secured  his  selection  by  one 
majority.  At  the  meeting  of  the  Committee  on  Nomination 
he  made  a  determined  effort  to  secure  the  nomination  of  some 
non-resident  by  suggesting  the  names  of  a  number  of  distin- 
guished men,  but  the  committee  met  every  such  proposition 
with  a  positive  and  significant  refusal,  and  finally  informed 
him,  in  a  manner  that  he  dared  not  disregard,  that  if  he  con- 
tinued his  course  of  opposition  to  the  selection  of  a  resident  it 
would  proceed  to  make  a  selection  for  him.  He  then  named 
Dr.  Liudsly,  who  was  chosen  without  opposition.  When,  at 
the  request  of  Dr.  Young,  I  communicated  to  Dr.  Liudsly 
the  fact  of  his  nomination,  he  was  so  much  surprised  that  he 
would  not  believe  it.  I  am  perfectly  sure  he  was  honest  and 
sincere  in  his  surprise,  and  that  he  had  not  anticipated  the 
possibility  of  his  election  to  the  Presidency  of  the  American 
Medical  Association  at  that  session.  Thus  the  struggle  ended. 
Neither  party  was  satisfied,  but  both  acquiesced.  The  Asso- 
ciation proceeded  with  its  business  in  regular  order,  without 
any  unusual  occurrence. 


CHAPTER  yil. 

Eemoval  to  the  Country.  Eesidence  at  Belvoir.  Eeturn  to  the  City. 
Eesumption  of  Professional  Life  in  This  City.  Columbia  Hospital 
Dispensary.  Lectures  at  the  Hospital.  Organization  of  the  Chil- 
dren's Hospital,  etc. 

Soox  after  the  adjournment  of  the  Association  in  1858  I 
completed  the  purchase  of  a  small  farm  in  the  suburbs,  known 
then  as  Mount  Pisgah,  and  afterward  as  Belvoir,  and  in 
August  removed  to  Georgetown,  where  I  resided  until  the 
necessary  buildings  were  completed,  and  in  March,  1860, 
took  up  my  residence  on  the  farm. 

I  was  induced  to  this  course  owing  to  feeble  health  and  the 
desire  to  gratify  my  love  for  the  country,  which  remained  un- 
abated, though  in  opposition  to  the  advice  of  some  of  my 
best  friends,  especially  Dr.  George  M.  Dove  and  my  good 
friend,  Dr.  Noble  Young,  who  more  than  once  said,  in  his 
very  direct  way,  that  I  was  making  a  fool  of  myself.  Per- 
haps he  was  right ;  but  I  did  not  see  it  that  way. 

My  residence  on  the  farm  restored  me  to  vigorous  and 
robust  health — perhaps  added  many  years  to  my  life ;  com- 
pletely cured  me  of  the  fascination  of  farming,  and  taught 
me  many  lessons  which  have  been  of  great  advantage  to  me 
during  my  residence  since  in  this  city. 

I  began  farming  with  enthusiasm  and  in  good  faith,  accept- 
ing and  following  the  precept  of  Franklin,  that  "  He  that  by 
the  plough  would  thrive,  himself  must  either  hold  or  drive." 
For  a  time  everything  went  on  merrily.  The  flowers,  shrub- 
bery, grass,  and  crops  grew  as  if  touched  by  a  magic  wand. 
I  saw  along  the  "  extended  plain  joy  after  joy  successively 
arise."  I  read  journals  and  books  on  farming ;  studied  seeds- 
men's and  nurserymen's  catalogues,  and  works  on  the  science 


112  PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES. 

and  chemistry  of  soil  cultivation  and  crops.  I  accepted  as 
an  infallible  truth  another  precept  of  Franklin,  "  that  early 
to  bed  and  early  to  rise  would  make  a  man  healthy,  wealthy, 
and  wise."  I  soon  acquired  a  good  appetite  and  could  eat 
plain  food,  well  cooked,  without  coaxing ;  and  learned  that 
rising  before  or  with  the  sun,  and  eating  breakfast  by  candle- 
light were  very  much  easier  in  the  country  than  in  the  town. 
The  cocks  crowed  in  sonorous  monotone  at  dawn  of  day  to 
call  me  to  time  in  my  last  morning  nap ;  the  windows  of  my 
chamber  were  so  located  that  the  first  rays  of  the  morning  sun 
came  leaping  from  hill-top  to  hill-top  over  forest  and  field 
directly  into  my  face ;  and  the  bells  were  near  at  hand  to  call 
the  cook  to  her  routine  duties.  I  was,  in  fact,  the  owner, 
manager,  and  boss  of  a  domain,  surrounded  by  willing  ser- 
vants and  hired  laborers  to  do  my  bidding,  and  my  wife 
and  I  were  living  in  all  the  comfort,  peace,  and  contentment 
that  two  people  could  desire.  Then  the  war  came,  and  with 
it  soldiers  in  companies,  regiments,  and  battalions,  and  some- 
times whole  armies  would  pass  en  route  to  some  field  of  con- 
flict. Military  camps,  posts,  and  hospitals  were  established 
all  around  and  about  the  farm.  Pillaging  became  an  expert 
profession.  The  fowl-yard  would  be  robbed,  the  kitchen 
garden  stripped  of  vegetables,  and  the  fruit  trees  thrashed 
until  not  a  vestige  of  leaf  would  be  left  to  distinguish  the 
dead  from  the  living  boughs.  Household  servants  disap- 
peared and  farm  hands  could  not  be  obtained  at  any  price. 
The  dwelling  and  out-buildings  remained.  The  stable  and 
horses  had  to  be  attended  to,  the  cows  had  to  be  milked ;  the 
pigs  squeaked  in  hunger  and  thirst ;  food  had  to  be  cooked, 
and  clean  clothing  was  all  the  more  in  demand  ;  and  other 
minor  duties,  too  numerous  to  mention,  required  unremitting 
attention.  The  farm  became  a  great  school  of  learning.  To 
sum  up  in  brief,  I  learned  to  do  and  did  do  everything  but 
groom  the  horses  and  cows,  launder,  and  wash  the  dishes. 

Such  interludes  in  household  matters  and   farming  opera- 
tions occurred  at  varying  intervals  during  the  war,  sometimes 


PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES.  113 

contiuuiug  for  a  day  or  two,  aud  at  others  for  a  longer  period, 
or  only  with  inefficient  and  insufficient  help.  Boys  obtained 
from  reformatory  institutions  would  take  to  the  road,  and  raw 
emigrants  would  soon  be  alarmed  at  the  martial  spirit  of 
marauding  soldiers  aud  the  warlike  preparations  always 
going  on.  The  officers  in  command  of  neighboring  posts 
were  very  polite,  and  offered  protection  from  the  depredations 
of  roving  soldiers  and  camp-followers,  but  it  soon  became 
doubtful  whether  the  guard  on  duty  was  preferable  to  the 
soldiers  at  liberty.  Later  during  the  war,  after  the  "contra- 
bands," refugees,  and  scalawags  began  to  flock  to  this  city,  it 
was  not  so  difficult  to  obtain  help,  but  it  was  very  indiiferent, 
inefficient,  and  insubordinate.  It  was  better,  however,  to 
accept  it,  such  as  it  was,  than  to  do  the  drudgery  one's  self. 

There  was,  however,  another  and  more  attractive  picture  of 
that  home  and  life  in  the  country.  Belvoir  occupied  a  com- 
manding location  several  hundred  feet  above  the  level  of  the 
sea,  the  front  door  of  the  dwelling  being  on  a  level  with  the 
Statue  of  Liberty  on  the  dome  of  the  Capitol,  with  a  view 
more  extensive  and  surpassing  in  diversity  and  grandeur  that 
of  any  eminence  on  the  rising  ground  of  the  suburban  dis- 
tricts, and  surrounded  by  a  picturesque  topography  inter- 
spersed with  forest,  field,  and  glen.  Situated  in  the  middle 
of  a  cultivated,  refined,  and  charming  neighborhood  society, 
it  possessed,  all  the  requirements  of  a  delightful  and  charming 
couutry  home,  sufficiently  near  to  the  city  to  afford  oppor- 
tunity for  the  gratification  of  pleasure  and  taste  to  the  heart's 
content. 

In  the  immediate  vicinity,  within  a  half-hour's  stroll  at 
leisure  along  the  road  or  across  the  fields,  were  situated  many 
homesteads  w^hich  during  many  years  had  been  held  and  occu- 
pied by  families  of  the  highest  social  standing,  among  which 
may  be  mentioned  Woodley,  Redwood,  Rosedale,  The  High- 
lands, The  Rest,  The  Villa,  Mount  Albans,  Weston,  North 
View,  Grassland,  Friendship,  and,  of  later  date.  Twin  Oaks 
and  Oak  View.     It  was  far  above  aud  overlooked  the  city, 

8 


114  PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES. 

and  away  in  a  southwesterly  direction,  as  far  as  the  eye  could 
reach,  the  Potomac  could  be  followed  in  its  flow  toward  the 
bay. 

The  few  surviving  friends  of  that  most  delightful  suburban 
neighborhood  might  deem  it  an  act  of  inexcusable  disingenu- 
ousness  if  I  omitted  special  reference  to  the  culture  and  cor- 
diality of  its  society  and  the  exceptional  good  behavior  of  its 
residents  in  general.  The  mutual  friendship  of  those  near 
neighbors  was  complete  in  entireness  and  total  in  magnanim- 
ity. In  sickness  no  one  suifered  for  lack  of  sympathy,  or  sus- 
tenance, or  those  kindly  ministrations  that  soften  and  solace 
the  "  ills  to  which  flesh  is  heir."  There  was  not  a  vicious 
character  or  dSbauche  in  the  neighborhood.  It  is  true  that 
east  of  the  now  prosperous  village  of  Tenleytown  there  was 
a  region  of  country  bordering  on  Rock  Creek  known  as 
"  Louse  Neck,"  inhabited  by  a  thriftless  and  besotted  class, 
who  trudged  on  foot  to  town  every  Saturday,  and  back  again, 
with  jug  in  hand,  '4o  raise  Cain"  in  drunken  saturnalia  of 
crime;  but  it  was  too  far  distant  to  disturb  the  peace  and  tran- 
quillity of  the  neighborhood  of  Christian  friends.  After  the 
establishment  of  the  parish  of  St.  Ann,  named  after  the  host- 
ess of  Rosedale,  and  through  the  good  offices  of  the  Jesuit 
father,  that  region  of  ignorance,  laziness,  and  debauchery 
submitted  to  the  influence  of  Christian  civilization. 

Even  with  such  a  meagre  and  incomplete  description  one 
can  realize  and  appreciate  the  reluctance  and  grief  with  which 
a  beloved  wife  finally  relinquished  the  right  and  privilege  of 
even  a  summer  home  at  Belvoir,  where  she  and  I  had  passed 
together  ten  years  of  the  prime  of  our  lives  in  that  peace  and 
contentment  which  make  men  and  women  happy.  But  the 
circumstances  and  exigencies  of  life  sometimes  disrupt  the 
most  agreeable  and  sacred  affiliations  and  associations. 

After  the  close  of  the  war  the  routine  of  life  gradually 
resumed  a  normal  condition.  The  soldiers,  camps,  barracks, 
parade-grounds,  and  hospitals  disappeared,  and  labor,  help, 
and  hirelings  returned  in  some  measure  to  the  accustomed 


PERSONAL  REMimSCENCES.  115 

ways  and  pursuits  of  former  days.  But  a  new  era  had  come, 
and  with  it  new  metiiods,  new  enterprises,  and  a  new  impetus 
to  thought  and  ambition.  Fortunes  had  been  wasted,  lost, 
and  made. 

There  was  no  physician  residing  nearer  to  Belvoir  than 
Georgetown,  two  miles  distant,  and  the  families  in  that  neigh- 
borhood were  attended  by  one  of  three  physicians,  my  per- 
sonal and  professional  friends  and  associates,  who,  when  they 
did  not  wish  to  go  to  the  country,  would  send  requests  to  me 
to  see  their  patients.  In  this  way  I  was  gradually  enticed 
into  the  practice  of  medicine,  which  continuously  increased, 
and  soon  became  a  very  serious  interruption  to  my  farming 
operations  and  interests.  After  the  war  the  neighborhood 
became  a  popular  resort  during  the  warm  summer  months  for 
a  number  of  residents  of  the  city  who  wished  to  be  conven- 
iently located,  that  they  might  drive  in  and  out  of  the  city  at 
their  pleasure,  so  that  my  business  increased  to  such  an  extent 
that  it  became  necessary  to  determine  whether  I  would  accept 
the  life  of  a  country  doctor,  with  its  labor,  hardships,  and 
very  moderate  remuneration,  or  return  to  the  city  and  resume 
the  practice  of  medicine.  I  gave  this  matter  deliberate  and 
serious  consideration,  and  finally  concluded  to  return  to  the 
city. 

During  the  winter  of  1868  I  began  to  attend  regularly  the 
weekly  meetings  of  the  Medical  Society  of  the  District  of 
Columbia,  where  I  met  the  friends  and  acquaintances  whom 
I  had  not  seen  during  the  ten  years  of  ray  retirement  in  the 
country,  and  many  others  who  had  entered  the  profession 
during  my  absence  from  the  city.  Soon  thereafter — Septem- 
ber, 1869 — I  became  associated  with  others  in  the  organiza- 
tion and  management  of  the  Dispensary  connected  with 
Columbia  Hospital,  taking  charge  of  the  Department  of 
Diseases  of  Infancy  and  Childhood.  About  the  same  time, 
through  the  friendly  influence  of  Drs.  Hall,  Miller,  and 
Stone,  I  was  appointed  Physician  to  the  Louise  Home,  which 
had   been  established   and  endowed   by  the   philanthropist 


116  PERSONAL  BEMINISCENCES. 

W.  W.  Corcoran.  These  fortuitous  circumstances  contributed 
very  much  to  my  advancement  in  the  business  aspects  of  my 
profession.  I  did  not,  however,  remove  immediately  to  the 
city,  but  retained  my  residence  at  Belvoir,  coming  into  the 
city  every  morning  and  returning  at  night.  At  first  I  was 
associated  with  Dr.  F.  A.  Ashford,  in  an  office  at  1731  Penn- 
sylvania Avenue,  where  I  remained  until  after  the  death  of 
George  Miller,  M^ho  was  then  the  associate  of  his  father.  Dr. 
Ashford  accepted  the  offer  of  Dr.  Thomas  Miller,  and  removed 
to  his  office  on  New  York  Avenue,  and  soon  after  I  removed 
to  the  corner  of  Fifteen-and-a-half  Street  and  Pennsylvania 
Avenue,  where  I  remained  for  several  years,  and  there  took 
up  my  residence,  and  abandoned  Belvoir  as  a  residence  except 
during  the  summer  months. 

The  establishment  of  the  Department  of  Diseases  of  Infancy 
and  Childhood  in  connection  with  the  Columbia  Hospital  Dis- 
pensary, organized  in  1869,  was  the  first  attempt  in  this  city 
to  specialize  that  class  of  diseases.  In  1872  the  Staff  of  the 
Dispensary  organized  a  summer  course  of  clinical  lectures, 
and  I  delivered  the  course  on  the  Diseases  of  Children,  which 
was  the  first  delivered  in  this  District  on  that  important 
branch  of  medicine.  The  lectures  were  exclusively  clinical, 
and  the  class  of  students  was  very  flattering,  but  in  conse- 
quence of  the  pruriency  of  some  of  the  Directors  the  school 
was  discontinued.  The  management  of  the  hospital  then,  and 
even  now,  when  clinical  medical  teaching  has  almost  entirely 
superseded  the  former  primitive  and  purely  didactic  method, 
was  so  wedded  to  the  theory  and  practice  of  prurient  privacy 
and  seclusion  of  hospital  patients  that  a  medical  student  could 
not  be  admitted  within  the  sacred  inclosure  of  a  public  pauper 
ward  to  study,  at  the  bedside,  the  diseases  peculiar  to  women. 
It  is,  however,  but  justice  to  add  that  the  institution  in  recent 
years  has  improved  in  its  methods,  but  even  yet  lags  far  be- 
hind the  advanced  methods  of  the  best  managed  special  hos- 
pitals, when,  as  a  Government  hospital,  it  should  be  the  leader 
in  its  special  department.    Its  slow  and  defective  methods  will 


PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES.  117 

probably  be  corrected  as  the  directory  no  longer  possesses  the 
power  of  perpetuating  itself. 

The  course  of  clinical  lectures  in  connection  with  the 
Columbia  Hospital  Dispensary  was  the  first  attempt  in  this 
country  to  establish  a  post-graduate  school  of  clinical  medi- 
cine. Since  that  date  similar  schools  have  been  established  in 
several  cities,  and  have  become  important  and  popular  addi- 
tions to  the  methods  of  advanced  medical  instruction. 

Previous  to  the  establishment  of  the  summer  school  of  clin- 
ical teaching  at  the  Columbia  Hospital  the  Children's  Hos- 
pital of  the  District  of  Columbia  had  been  founded,  and  was 
in  successful  operation.  The  following  extract  from  the 
tenth  annual  report  of  the  Board  of  Directors  of  that  insti- 
tution sets  forth  the  preliminary  history  of  its  origin  and 
organization : 

MEMORANDA   IX    REGARD   TO   THE    ORIGIN   AND    ORGANIZATION    OF 
THE   children's  HOSPITAL   OF   THE   DISTRICT   OF   COLUMBIA, 

Submitted  to  the  Board  of  Directors  at  their  annual  meeting,  De- 
cember 13,  1880,  by  S.  C.  Busey,  M.D.,  one  of  the  attending 
physicians. 

To  the  Board  of  Directors  : 

The  undersigned  avails  himself  of  the  present  opportunity  to  put 
upon  record  his  personal  knowledge  of  the  origin  and  organization 
of  the  Children's  Hospital  of  the  District  of  Columbia. 

During  the  existence  of  the  Dispensary  attached  to  the  Columbia 
Hospital  I  had  charge  of  the  Department  of  Diseases  of  Children, 
and  cases  of  disease  which  could  not  be  properly  treated  in  a  dispen- 
sary were  so  frequently  presented  that  I  was  forced  to  consider  the 
propriety  of  an  attempt  to  establish  a  hospital  for  this  class  of 
patients. 

In  March,  1870,  I  communicated  my  views  to  my  friend  and  col- 
league, Dr.  F.  A.  Ashford.  After  several  conferences  held  in  the 
office  of  Dr.  Ashford,  then  located  at  No.  1731  Pennsylvania  Avenue, 
we  agreed  to  invite  Drs.  William  B.  Drinkard  and  W.  W.  Johnston 
to  a  conference.  These  gentlemen  coincided  with  us,  and  the  four 
determined  to  make  a  united  effort  to  carry  into  effect  our  wishes. 
At  this  i:)oint  a  long  delay  was  occasioned  by  the  circumstances  that 
Dr.  Drinkard  had  been  offered  the  Professorship  of  Ophthalmic  Sur- 


118  PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES. 

gery  in  a  medical  school  in  a  distant  city  and  by  our  inability  to 
agree  ui^on  a  method  of  presenting  the  project  to  the  public.  After 
Dr.  Drinkard  had  declined  the  professorship,  and  at  his  suggestion, 
a  conference  was  requested  with  the  Board  of  Lady  Managers' of  the 
Washington  City  Orphan  Asylum.  This  board  appointed  a  Commit- 
tee of  Conference,  consisting  of  Mrs.  S.  P.  Lee,  Mrs.  J.  Zeilin,  Mrs. 
William  Stickney,  Mrs.  J.  C.  Harkness,  Mrs.  A.  J.  Brown,  Mrs.  A.  E. 
Perry,  Mrs.  H.  S.  Reynolds,  and  Miss  Margaret  Washington.^  With 
this  committee  several  conferences  were  held  at  the  residence  of  Mrs. 
A.  J.  Brown  on  New  York  Avenue,  at  one  of  which  were  present  the 
Misses  Virginia  and  Sally  C.  Miller  and  Miss  M.  L.  Thomson.  At 
the  last  of  these  conferences  a  draft  of  a  charter  was  read  and  ap- 
proved. The  ladies  present  expressed  an  active  interest  and  prom- 
ised their  cooperation.  They  advised  a  conference  with  prominent 
gentlemen,  and  suggested  the  names  of  many  who  were  subsequently 
invited  to  a  meeting  of  citizens.  Whilst  these  negotiations  were 
pending,  Drs.  J.  C.  Hall,  Thomas  Miller,  W.  P.  Johnston,  C.  H.  Lie- 
bermaun,  and  Grafton  Tyler  were  invited  to  unite  and  coojierate  with 
us.  Dr.  W.  W.  Johnston  was  authorized  to  advise  with  his  father, 
Dr.  Ashford  with  Dr.  Miller,  Dr.  Drinkard  with  Dr.  Liebermann,  and 
to  me  was  consigned  the  duty  of  consulting  Drs.  Hall  and  Tyler. 
All  of  these  gentlemen  expressed  their  approval  of  the  project,  and 
indicated  their  purpose  to  promote  the  success  of  the  institution  both 
by  personal  influence  and  pet?.uniary  contributions. 

At  my  first  interview  with  Dr.  Hall  he  indicated  his  willingness  to 
contribute  means,  but  declined  on  account  of  feeble  health  to  hold 
any  office  in  the  institution,  and  only  after  a  formal  invitation  from 
the  citizens  who  assembled  at  the  office  of  Dr.  W.  P.  Johnston  on 
the  25th  of  November,  1870,  did  he  consent  to  unite  with  the  others 
in  a  personal  effi:)rt  to  complete  the  organization.  I  do  not  intend  to 
record  any  invidious  distinction,  but  the  truth  of  history  requires  that 
I  should  not  omit  the  statement  that  from  the  time  when  he  was  first 
advised  of  our  object  Dr.  William  P.  Johnston  manifested  the  liveliest 
interest  in  its  success,  and  exercised  an  active  and  controlling  influ- 
ence in  perfecting  the  organization.  There  was  no  lack  of  effi^rt  on 
the  part  of  any  one  of  these  five  gentlemen,  but  Dr.  Johnston's  enthu- 
siasm and  earnestness  assured  success. 

Mr.  F.  B.  McGuire  was  the  first  layman,  and,  I  believe,  the  fifth 
man  to  whom  the  project  was  communicated.  During  the  time  when 
the  conferences  with  the  ladies  were  being  held  I  called  upon  Dr. 

1  All  of  these  ladies  may  not  have  been  members  of  the  Committee  of  Confer- 
ence. 


PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES.  119 

Drinkard  at  his  office,  then  located  in  a  small  one-story  frame  build- 
ing on  Fourteenth  Street  between  F  and  G  Streets,  to  consult  him  in 
regard  to  some  provision  of  the  charter  which  was  to  be  read  to 
the  ladies.  Here  I  met  Mr.  McGuire.  After  some  conversation  Dr. 
Drinkard,  addressing  Mr.  McGuire,  said :  "  Fred,  I  want  to  interest 
you  in  our  project  to  establish  a  children's  hospital  in  this  city,"  and 
proceeded  to  explain  the  plan  to  him.  Mr.  McGuire  expressed  his 
willingness  to  do  anything  he  could  to  aid  us,  and  thereafter  became 
an  earnest  and  active  colaborer. 

Thus  far  we  had  proceeded  without  any  organization.  Many  citizens 
were  consulted,  of  whom  I  name  Messrs.  J.  C.  Kennedy,  M.  W.  Gait, 
S.  V.  Niles,  Joseph  H.  Bradley,  Jr.,  and  A.  N.  Zevely,  among  those 
who  were  most  prominent.  At  the  suggestion  of  his  father.  Dr.  W. 
W.  Johnston  and  myself  held  several  interviews  with  Mr.  Kennedy, 
at  which  the  plan  of  organization  and  prospects  of  success  were  dis- 
cussed. Finally,  Dr.  W.  P.  Johnston  requested  me  to  write  in  his 
name  to  a  number  of  gentlemen  whose  names  had  been  furnished, 
inviting  them  to  assemble  at  his  office  on  the  evening  of  November 
25th,  to  confer  in  regard  to  the  proposed  hospital. 

I  present  herewith  the  proceedings  of  that  and  the  subsequent 
meetings  of  this  preliminary  organization,  which  are  in  my  own 
handwriting,  and  have  been  in  my  possession  ever  since ;  also  the 
copy  of  the  proposed  charter  which  was  read  to  the  ladies  at  the  last 
conference  held  at  the  residence  of  Mrs.  A.  J.  Brown,  together  with 
the  original  draft  of  the  charter  suljmitted  to  the  first  of  the  meetings 
of  the  citizens,  with  the  amendments,  corrections,  marginal  notes, 
and  interlineations  as  they  were  made  at  the  time,  and  in  the  hand- 
writing of  the  persons  by  whom  made.  There  are  also  printed  copies 
of  notices  of  meetings,  and  the  original  draft  of  an  invitation  which 
the  Secretary  was  directed  to  send  to  certain  j^ersons  requesting  their 
coojieration  in  the  establishment  of  the  institution.  All  these  manu- 
scripts are  in  my  handwriting,  and  have  never  been  out  of  my  pos- 
session. The  revised  and  corrected  copy  of  the  charter  as  recorded, 
with  the  signatures  of  the  corporators,  was  delivered  by  me  to  Mr. 
M.  W.  Gait  several  years  ago.  Accompanying  these  original  papers 
is  the  draft  of  the  constitution  and  by-laws,  in  the  handwriting  of 
Dr.  F.  A.  Ashford,  who,  with  Dr.  W.  P.  Johnston,  w^as  appointed  at 
the  meeting  of  November  25, 1870,  to  draft  and  report  a  constitution 
and  by-laws  for  the  government  of  the  institution. 

On  the  adjournment  of  the  meeting  of  citizens  held  December  9, 
1870,  at  Lincoln  Hall,  my  duties  as  Secretary  ceased.  The  corpora- 
tors assembled  immediately  afterward  in  the  same  room,  and  pro- 
ceeded to  the  election  of  a  Board  of  Directors.    A  committee  was 


120  PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES. 

appointed  to  nominate  a  Board  of  Directors.  I  acted  as  the  secretary 
of  that  committee.  On  the  committee  Mrs.  S.  P.  Lee  represented  the 
ladies.  The  report  of  the  committee  was  unanimously  adopted,  and 
the  meeting  of  the  corporators  adjourned  sine  die.  They  have  not 
since  reassembled. 

S.  C.  BusEY,  M.D. 

lu  1875  the  University  of  Georgetown  established  the  Pro- 
fessorship of  Diseases  of  Infancy  and  Childhood,  to  which  I 
was  appointed  (July  24, 1875).  This  was  the  first  professor- 
ship of  pediatric  medicine  in  this  city. 

The  foregoing  citations  establish  beyond  dispute  the  fact 
that  I  originated  the  specialism  of  diseases  of  children,  and 
was  the  first  to  teach  in  this  city  that  branch  of  medicine  as 
a  distinct  department.  I  was  also  an  activ^e  coadjutor  of  Dr. 
Abraham  Jacobi  in  creating  the  Section  of  Diseases  of  Chil- 
dren in  the  American  Medical  Association  at  the  meeting  in 
the  City  of  New  York  in  1880.  I  offered  the  amendment  to 
the  by-laws,  which  was  unanimously  adopted  [Transactions 
American  3fedical  Association,  vol.  xxxi.,  p.  59) ;  presided 
at  the  first  meeting  of  the  Section,  read  the  first  paper  before 
it,  entitled  "  Chronic  Bright's  Disease  in  Children,  Caused  by 
Malaria"  {Transactions,  vol.  xxxi.,  p.  715);  and  was  elected 
the  Chairman  of  the  Section  at  Richmond  in  1881.  I  was  also 
one  of  the  founders,  in  1889,  and  am  now  a  member,  of  the 
American  Pediatric  Society. 

I  have  collected  and  arranged  these  historical  events  and 
incidents  of  my  professional  career  that  I  might,  with  rea- 
sonable and  excusable  pride,  establish  priority  and  the  influ- 
ence of  my  course  and  example  in  the  development  of  that 
branch  of  medical  science  in  this  city.  It  may  be,  and  prob- 
ably is  true,  as  the  caviller  always  claims,  that  some  other 
could  have  accomplished  much  more  ;  but  the  fact  remains 
the  same,  nobody  made  the  attempt,  and  I  am  egotist  enough 
to  believe  that  the  present  high  and  advanced  standard  of 
pediatric  medicine  in  the  District  of  Columbia  had  its  begin- 
ning with  my  efforts. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

The  Founders  of  the  Medical  Society  of  the  District  of  Columbia  Whom 
I  Knew,  with  Some  References  to  Several  Others. 


Founders  of  the  Medical 

Date  of 

Society,  D.  C,  Feb.  16, 

ation  in 

Alma  Mater. 

Nativity. 

Born. 

Died. 

Age. 

Medicine. 

Blake,  James  H. 

1789 

Amer.  Med. 

Soc.  Phil.i 

Md. 

1768 

1819 

52 

Clark,  George 

1810 

Univ.  Pa. 

Va. 

1822 

Bohrer,  Benjamin  S. 

1810 

Univ.  Pa. 

George- 
town. 

1788 

1862 

75 

French,  Robert 

1809 

Univ.  Pa. 

1787 

1835 

48 

Gustine,  Joel  Y. 

Harrison,  John 

1809 

Va. 
Md. 
Va. 



1762 
1789 

1825 
1819 
1854 

Harrison,  Elisha 

'>7 

Henderson,  Thomas 

Univ.  Pa. 

65 

Horsley  Samuel 

Va. 

1798 

1821 

23 

Huntt,  Henry 

1824 

L.  M.  c.  r.2 

Md. 

1782 

1838 

56 

Johnson,  James  T. 

Jones,  William 

L.  M.  C.  F.2 

Md. 

1790 

■1867 

77 

May,  Frederick 

1795 

Harvard. 

Mass. 

1773 

1847 

74 

May,  George  "W. 

1813 

Harvard. 

Mass. 

1789 

1845 

55 

McWilliams,  Alexander 

Univ.  Pa. 

Md. 

1775 

1850 

76 

Shaaf,  John  T. 

1823 

Md. 
Md. 

1763 
1770 

1819 
1832 

56 

Sim,  Thomas 



Univ.  Md. 

63 

Weightman,  Richard 

1817 

Univ.  Md. 

D.  C. 

1841 

"Warfield,  Peregrine 

L.M.C  F.2 

Md. 

1779 

1856 

76 

Worthington,  Charles 

1782 

Univ.  Pa. 

Md. 

1759 

1836 

76 

"Worthington,  Nich.  W. 

1815 

Univ.  Pa. 

George- 
town. 

1789 

1849 

60 

I  am  not  quite  sure  that  I  ever  saw  the  elder  Worthington. 
I  recall  instances  of  inquiries  by  my  mother  of  my  elder  half- 
brother  on  his  return  from  the  city  whether  he  had  seen  the 
old  doctor  or  Dr.  Nick,  and  presume  those  inquiries  related  to 
some  professional  matter,  and,  if  so,  I  must  have  seen  him 
during  some  of  her  visits  to  him.     Dr.  Nicholas,  his  son,  I 


1  American  Medical  Society,  Philadelphia. 

3  Licentiate  of  the  Medical  and  Chirm-gic»l  Faculty,  Maryland. 


122  PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES. 

have  seen  very  often,  and  even  after  I  earae  to  this  city.  He 
retired  because  of  feeble  health,  and  lived  with  some  friends 
at  Brentwood,  one  of  the  old  mansions  just  outside  of  the  city 
limits,  about  two  miles  north  and  to  the  east  of  the  Capitol. 
Neither  of  the  Worthingtons  left  any  memorial  of  their  hon- 
orable lives.  Both  were  men  of  distinction,  and  beloved  by 
large  circles  of  friends  and  patrons.  If  I  could  establish 
personal  knowledge  of  Charles  Worthington,  I  could  assert 
acquaintance  with  every  President  of  this  Society  except 
Thomas  Sim,  who  died  during  the  third  term  of  his  presi- 
dency. Of  him  I  know  nothing  beyond  the  facts  recorded 
by  Drs.  Toner  and  W.  W.  Johnston. 

The  conspicuous  position,  commanding  influence,  and  emi- 
nent professional  standing  of  the  elder  Worthington  entitle 
his  memory  to  a  more  extended  notice  than  the  foregoing  brief 
reference.  Born  of  one  of  the  most  noted  Colonial  families 
of  Maryland,  at  Sumner  Hill,  the  family  homestead,  located 
in  Anne  Arundel  County,  and  favored  with  the  best  classical 
and  professional  education  that  wealth,  high  social  standing, 
and  an  unbroken  honorable  descent  could  give,  it  was  not  sur- 
prising that  even  as  a  very  young  man  he  should  have  attained 
such  success  and  position  as  made  him  a  leader  in  medicine 
and  society. 

Charles  "Worthington  was  born  in  1759,  and  settled  in 
Georgetown  in  1783,  at  the  age  of  twenty- four.  He  was  the 
senior  of  the  founders  and  one  of  nine  residing  in  Georgetown. 
He  was  the  first  President  of  the  Society,  and  was  re-elected 
for  twelve  successive  years ;  he  had,  at  the  time  of  the  foun- 
dation, the  most  extended  observation  of  and  most  enlarged 
experience  with  the  horde  of  charlatans  and  pretenders  that 
so  afflicted  the  two  adjacent  communities  that  the  medical  men 
of  high  repute  were  compelled  to  effect  an  organization  for 
mutual  protection  and  to  inform  the  communities  of  the  quali- 
fications of  those  fitted  to  practice  the  healing  art,  which  cul- 
minated in  the  charter,  by  an  act  of  Congress,  of  the  Medical 
Society  of  the  District  of  Columbia  in  1819.     He  and  Fred- 


PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES.  \  0,3 

erick  May  were  undoubtedly  the  two  most  influential  medical 
men  residing  in  this  District  at  that  date.  They  were  intimate 
friends  and  associates  and  allies  in  efforts  to  promote  and 
advance  the  standing  and  influence  of  scientific  medicine. 
These  facts  and  circumstances  add  credence  to  the  claim  of 
some  of  his  descendants  that,  if  not  the  originator,  he  was 
one  of  the  most  active  and  efficient  promoters  of  the  move- 
ment to  establish  the  Medical  Society  of  the  District  of 
Columbia.  In  corroboration  of  this  suggestion  it  may  be 
added  that  at  the  earlier  and  preliminary  meetings  of  the 
qualified  physicians  of  the  adjacent  cities,  even  as  early  as 
1813,  Charles  Worthington  was  the  selected  presiding  officer, 
and  usually  a  member  of  all  important  committees.  He  was 
not  the  first  physician  w^ho  settled  in  Georgetown.  Dr. 
Toner  is  authority  for  the  statement  that  Walter  Smith  was 
probably  the  first,  John  Weems  the  second,  and  Charles  A. 
Beatty  the  third,  who  preceded  Worthington  by  one  year. 
Not  one  of  the  three  earlier  settlers  seems  to  have  taken 
any  part  in  the  organization  of  the  Society  or  to  have  co- 
operated in  any  procedure  to  promote  the  progress  of  the  pro- 
fession. 

Dr.  Charles  Worthington  "  was  an  austere  man  (Johnston, 
seventy-fifth  anniversary  address),  full  of  dignity  and  serious- 
ness, devoting  himself  to  his  profession  and  to  all  good  works 
with  constancy  and  patience.  He  was  the  active  founder  of 
St.  John's  Church  in  Georgetown,  the  second  church  of  the 
Episcopal  rite  in  the  District.  To  his  latest  day  he  dressed 
in  the  old  style,  his  hair  in  queue,  with  knee-breeches,  long 
stockings,  and  buckles  on  his  shoes ;  he  drove  a  coach-and- 
four  when  his  journeys  were  long,  as  to  Annapolis,  or  to  his 
country-place  on  the  Seventh  Street  road,  near  where  Bright- 
wood  now  stands.  He  was  a  man  of  great  ability,  of  untir- 
ing zeal  and  industry,  and  of  lofty  and  honorable  principle. 
During  his  long  life  of  seventy-six  years,  with  fifty-five  years 
of  active  professional  work,  he  was  esteemed  and  admired, 
loved  and  honored  by  all  who  knew  him." 


124  PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES. 

The  following  extract  from  the  proceedings  of  the  Society 
sets  forth  the  esteem  and  admiration  of  his  colleagues : 

The  life  of  the  late  venerable  Dr.  Charles  Worthington,  formerly 
President  of  this  Society,  i3resents  a  sublime  moral  lesson  to  the  med- 
ical profession.  More  than  tifty-five  years  he  practised  medicine  with 
great  success  and  with  the  most  untiring  zeal  and  industry.  During 
that  time  his  course  was  always  marked  with  lofty  and  honorable 
principles,  with  the  purest  piety  and  integrity,  and  with  the  most  un- 
sullied reputation.  He  has  descended  to  the  tomb,  beloved  and  re- 
vered by  all  who  knew  him,  full  of  years  and  fiill  of  virtues. 

Frederick  May  came  to  the  City  of  Washington  in  1795 — 
five  years  before  the  transfer  of  the  Government  to  this  city. 
He  was  a  pioneer  who  prepared  the  way  for  others,  and  the 
founder  of  the  Medical  Society  of  the  District  of  Columbia, 
through  whose  professional  life  the  history  of  medicine  in  this 
city  during  the  years  antedating  the  organization  of  the  Society 
can  be  traced  through  membership  to  and  before  the  establish- 
ment of  the  Government  here,  and  continuously  with  its  growth 
and  development  down  to  the  present  time.  His  son,  John 
Frederick,  was  born  and  began  the  practice  of  medicine  in 
this  city,  and  died  a  member  of  the  Medical  Society  of  the 
District  of  Columbia  at  the  age  of  eighty,  leaving  a  son  now 
an  active  member.  In  this  family  the  continuity  of  member- 
ship has  been  unbroken  from  its  organization  to  the  comple- 
tion of  its  seventy-fifth  anniversary. 

He  was  the  third  President  of  the  Medical  Society  of  the 
District  of  Columbia,  and  was  re-elected  for  fifteen  successive 
years — 1833-1848 — and  then  declined  a  re-election  against 
the  unanimous  protest  of  his  colleagues.  No  other  President 
has  served  in  that  office  for  so  long  a  period. 

At  the  meeting  of  the  Society  held  January  4,  1847,  the 
following  letter,  addressed  to  the  Society  by  Dr.  May,  was 
read  : 

To  the  Medical  Society  of  the  District  of  Columbia  : 

1  feel  admonished  by  my  infirmities  and  a  protracted  illness  that  I 
can  no  longer  discharge  the  duties  of  President  of  your  Society,  with 


PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES.  \  25 

which  you  have  honored  me  for  so  many  years,  and  therefore  hereby 
resign  the  same. 

I  am,  with  the  highest  consideration  and  greatest  respect, 
Your  obedient  servant. 

Feed.  May. 

The  record  continues  as  follows  : 

This  being  the  day  fixed  bj^  the  charter  for  the  election  of  officers, 
the  Society  proceeded  to  ballot  for  officers  for  the  present  year,  and 
Dr.  F.  May  was  unanimously  re-elected  President ;  and,  upon  motion, 
it  was  resolved  that  the  Society,  not  wishing  to  impose  upon  him  any 
duty,  would  release  him  from  the  duties  of  the  office,  and  had  directed 
the  Vice-President  to  discharge  such  duties. 

It  so  happened  that  I,  in  1848,  not  long  after  his  death, 
commenced  the  practice  of  medicine  in  the  immediate  vicinity 
of  his  former  residence,  and  soon  came  to  know  many  of  the 
families  whom  he  had  from  time  to  time  attended,  and  I  was 
the  immediate  associate  of  many  young  people  at  whose  birth 
he  had  been  present  as  the  popular  and  skilful  obstetrician. 
I  can,  therefore,  bear  testimony  to  the  love  those  good  people 
had  for  their  venerable  family  physician,  many  of  whom  had 
not  become  reconciled  to  the  loss,  and  clung  to  the  belief  that 
no  one  could  fill  his  place  in  their  confidence. 

Frederick  May  was  a  scholarly  man  and  an  erudite  physi- 
cian ;  a  ready  and  fluent  lecturer ;  and  during  the  greater  part 
of  his  long  life  commanded  an  enormous  business. 

Born  of  a  noted  family  that  came  to  this  country  in  1640 
to  gratify  "  the  desire  for  a  larger  degree  of  personal  indepen- 
dence and  religious  liberty,"  he  never  forgot  the  prestige  of 
his  family.  He  lived  a  life  without  blemish,  and  died  re- 
spected and  beloved. 

James  Heighe  Blake,  who  was  born  in  Calvert  County, 
Marylaud,  on  June  11,  1768,  was  descended  from  a  family  of 
lower  Maryland  planters,  he  being  the  third  in  descent  from 
the  first  Blake,  who  came  to  that  colony  early  after  its  settle- 
ment. Where  he  obtained  his  early  education  is  not  known  ; 
he,  however,  studied  medicine  at  the  University  of  Pennsyl- 


126  PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES. 

vania,  and  on  March  23,  1789,  received  the  diploma  of  the 
American  Medical  Society  at  Philadelphia,  signed  by  William 
Shippen,  President,  pro  vera  ejus  diligentia  in  scientia  medicince 
acquirenda,  quae  post-examen  darius  innotuit.  He  married  in 
November,  1789,  shortly  thereafter  moved  to  Georgetown, 
District  of  Columbia,  built  tlie  house  (still  standing)  on  the 
southwest  corner  of  Gay  and  Congress  Streets,  and  entered 
upon  the  practice  of  his  profession. 

In  1800  he  removed  to  Colchester,  in  Fairfax  County, 
Virginia,  and,  becoming  interested  in  politics,  was  chosen  to 
represent  his  county  in  the  Legislature.  On  the  accession  of 
Mr,  Madison,  who  was  for  mauy  years  a  close  personal  friend, 
to  the  Presidency,  Dr.  Blake  removed  to  Washington,  and 
soon  acquired  an  extended  practice  in  his  profession,  which 
continued  until  his  death.  He  did  not,  however,  confine  his 
attention  exclusively  to  his  profession,  but  was  interested  in 
everything  that  contributed  to  the  welfare  and  advancement 
of  the  City  of  Washington.  In  the  latter  part  of  1811  meet- 
ings of  the  most  prominent  citizens  were  held,  having  in  view 
a  change  in  the  charter  of  the  city,  over  which  meetings  Dr. 
Blake  presided.  As  a  result  Congress  amended  the  charter, 
making  the  office  of  Mayor  an  elective  one,  and  under  this 
charter  Dr.  Blake  was  elected  Mayor  in  June,  1813,  and  annu- 
ally thereafter  until  the  year  1818.  Previously,  however,  to 
his  election  as  Mayor  he  had  been  appointed  by  the  President 
Collector  of  Internal  Hevenue  for  the  District  of  Columbia. 
His  careful  attention  to  the  welfare,  safety,  and  interest  of  the 
people  during  the  trying  times  of  the  capture  of  Washington 
by  the  English,  in  August,  1814,  drew  forth  the  most  com- 
plimentary notice  of  The  National  Intelligencer.  In  July, 
1818,  he  was  appointed  Register  of  Wills  for  the  District  of 
Columbia,  which  office  he  held  at  the  time  of  his  death,  which 
occurred  on  the  26th  day  of  July,  1819. 

Though  interested  and  active  in  outside  matters,  he  dili- 
gently pursued  his  chosen  profession,  and  enjoyed  an  extensive 
practice.     In  1814  he  was  appointed  by  President  Madison 


PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES.  127 

Medical  Supervisor  of  the  Hospitals  established  in  Washing- 
ton for  sick  and  wounded  soldiers,  and  when  the  ]\Iedical 
Society  of  the  District  of  Columbia  was  incorporated,  in  1819, 
he  was  named  by  Congress  as  one  of  the  incorporators.  The 
National  Intelligencer,  in  speaking  of  his  death,  after  alluding 
to  his  active  public  life,  adds,  "  In  private  life,  in  the  relation 
of  father,  husband,  and  friend,  he  was  an  ornament  of  society, 
and  a  bright  example  to  all  around  him." 

William  Jones,  the  last  of  the  founders  of  the  Society,  died 
in  1867,  in  the  seventy-seventh  year  of  his  age. 

He  received  his  education  under  the  tutorship  of  the  Rev. 
John  Breckinridge,  first  in  his  classical  school  at  "  Harewood," 
now  a  part  of  the  Soldiers'  Home  Park,  and,  subsequently,  at 
the  Rockville  Academy,  Montgomery  County,  Maryland,  of 
which  Breckinridge  was  the  first  principal.  The  Rev.  Breck- 
inridge was  the  founder  of  the  first  Presbyterian  Church  in 
this  city,  known  as  the  "  Little  White  Chapel  under  the  Hill," 
where  is  now  located  a  place  of  worship  for  colored  people. 
From  it  sprang  the  First  Presbyterian  Church,  on  Four-and-a- 
half  Street,  of  which  Dr.  Byron  Sunderland  is  now  the  pastor. 

He  attended  a  course  of  lectures  at  the  University  of  Penn- 
sylvania during  the  professorships  of  Rush,  Physick,  Wistar, 
and  their  distinguished  colleagues.  On  returning  home  dur- 
ing the  recess,  and  finding  there  was  a  demand  for  surgeons 
in  the  army,  owing  to  the  then  existing  war,  he  accepted  a 
license  from  the  "  Medical  and  Chirurgical  Faculty  of  Mary- 
land," entered  the  army  as  assistant  surgeon,  and  was  assigned 
to  duty  in  and  about  this  city.  After  the  capture  and  evacua- 
tion of  the  city  he  was  ordered  as  assistant  to  Dr.  James  H. 
Blake,  in  charge  of  the  hospital  established  in  a  row  of  build- 
ings on  P  Street,  S.,  opposite  the  Arsenal  grounds.  Subse- 
quently he  formed  a  partnership  with  Dr.  Blake,  who  was 
then  Mayor  of  the  city,  and  had  a  very  large  practice,  to 
which  he  fell  heir  at  Blake's  death  in  1819. 

Dr.  Jones  was  the  family  physician  of  Mrs.  Ann  Mattingly, 
the  subject  of  an  alleged  miraculous  cure  (in  1824),  wrought 


128  PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES. 

through  the  intercession  of  Prince  Hohenlohe,  a  Catholic 
priest,  at  Bamburg,  in  Germany,  who  had  been  pronounced 
by  himself  and  others  to  be  fatally  ill  with  an  incurable  dis- 
ease. He  was  not  a  believer  in  modern  miracles,  but  I  have 
more  than  once  heard  him  narrate  the  history  of  this  remark- 
able recovery,  in  which  he  would  state  the  facts  in  minute 
detail,  without  committing  himself  to  belief  in  the  miracle, 
which  was  believed  or  not,  according  to  the  faith  of  the  person. 
Dr.  Jones  concludes  his  published  account  of  the  case  with  the 
statement  that  he  called,  and  to  his  "great  surprise  and  grati- 
fication she  met  him  at  her  chamber  door  in  apparent  health." 
A  full  account  of  this  reputed  miracle  may  be  found  in  the 
third  volume  of  the  works  of  the  first  Bishop  of  Charleston, 
the  Rt.  Rev.  John  England. 

After  the  election  of  John  Quincy  Adams  to  the  Presi- 
dency by  the  House  of  Representatives,  Dr.  Jones  espoused 
the  cause  of  Jackson,  and  was  a  member  of  the  noted  Jackson 
Central  Committee,  of  which  John  P.  Van  Ness  was  chair- 
man, which  pursued  the  opposite  party  with  such  effective 
virulence.  In  April,  1829,  he  was  appointed  Postmaster  of 
this  city,  which  office  he  held  until  March,  1839  ;  was  reap- 
pointed in  July,  1841,  and  held  it  until  March,  1845 ;  again, 
for  the  third  time,  he  was  appointed  in  March,  1858,  and  held 
it  until  May,  1861.  In  all  he  held  the  office  for  sixteen  years 
and  eight  months,  during  the  whole  of  which  period  he  dis- 
charged the  duties  with  unsurpassed  ability  and  fidelity. 

He  was  exceedingly  affable,  pleasing  in  manners,  and  genial 
in  disposition.  "  A  high-toned  honor  regulated  his  inter- 
course with  his  fellowmen,  and  sterling  integrity  marked  all 
his  transactions.  Dauntless  courage  and  rigid  adherence  to 
the  truth  were  distinguished  characteristics."  He  was  a  firm 
believer  in  the  Christian  faith,  and  carried  his  precepts  into 
jjractice  in  the  daily  walks  of  life. 

He  was  elected  to  the  Presidency  of  the  Medical  Society  of 
the  District  of  Columbia  eight  successive  times,  but  when  I 
came  here  he  had  retired  from  the  practice  of  medicine,  and 


PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES.  129 

was  living  a  life  of  great  ease  and  comfort.  Occasionally, 
when  he  could  not  escape  the  importunities  of  some  old  and 
confiding  friend,  he  would  make  a  consultation  visit,  one  of 
which  Avas  made  to  a  patient  of  mine,  stricken  with  hemiplegia. 
After  a  very  cursory  and  superficial  examination  he  announced 
his  opinion  in  his  very  emphatic  manner — "  Salivate,  salivate, 
salivate  him,  and  he  will  get  well."  I  obeyed  the  peremptory 
order,  and  my  patient  recovered  from  the  paralysis  before  he 
got  well  of  the  salivation.  It  was  the  worst  and  most  intrac- 
table case  of  mercurial  ptyalism  I  have  ever  seen.  That  was 
my  first  and  only  clinical  opportunity  to  learn  anything  of 
his  professional  knowledge.  He  was  then,  and  afterward,  an 
active  politician,  and  an  ardent  friend  and  partisan  of  James 
Buchanan,  during  whose  term  in  the  Presidency  he  was  Post- 
master of  this  city.  Socially  he  was  a  gentleman  of  the  "  old 
school,"  who  died  as  he  had  lived,  respected  by  everybody 
who  had  known  him. 

Peregrine  Warfield  was  a  licentiate  of  the  jNIedical  and 
Chirurgical  Faculty  of  Maryland.  He  belonged  to  the  class 
of  calomel  and  sangrado  doctors,  and  lost  the  confidence  of 
the  community  long  before  he  lost  his  life.  The  last  time  I 
saw  him,  a  short  time  before  his  death  in  1856,  he  exhibited 
great  feebleness  and  other  signs  of  advanced  age. 

Benjamin  S.  Bohrer  was  a  man  of  note,  and  commanded 
the  respect  and  confidence  of  the  community  for  fifty-two 
years  of  continuous  practice  of  medicine.  Born  in  George- 
town in  1788,  he  lived  and  died  an  honored  citizen  and  phy- 
sician in  the  seventy-fifth  year  of  his  age.  Up  to  the  date  of 
his  last  illness  he  was  in  the  full  possession  of  his  mental 
faculties  and  actively  engaged  in  his  profession.  I  knew 
him  from  my  early  boyhood,  and  was  in  consultation  with 
him  a  short  time  before  his  death.  He  had  a  homely  face, 
was  tall  and  erect,  graceful  in  carriage,  dignified  and  cour- 
teous in  manner,  scholarly  and  polished  in  conversation,  gen- 
erous to  a  fault,  and,  with  all,  gentle  and  sympathetic.  He 
was  always  the  friend  of  the  poor  and  needy,  giving  away 

0 


130  PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES. 

that  which  he  most  needed  himself,  and,  consequently,  was 
frequently  in  financial  stress.  He  was  a  devoted  husband  and 
father.  In  fact,  his  lenient,  tolerant,  and  forgiving  nature 
was  so  marked  that  he  was  characterized  as  a  most  exemplary 
but  unfortunate  exemplar  of  an  upright  and  pure  man.  Like 
most  men,  he  had  peculiarities  and  idiosyncrasies.  He  was 
very  vain,  especially  of  his  figure.  On  one  occasion,  perhaps 
on  many  others,  when  confined  to  his  bed,  he  called  his  wife, 
Maria,  to'  his  bedside,  telling  her,  as  he  threw  the  cover  from 
his  feet,  that  he  wished  her  to  look  at  them  very  carefully,  to 
which  she  reluctantly  assented,  after  the  declaration  that  she 
had  often  seen  them  before ;  "  but  not,"  he  replied,  "  to  study 
the  beauty  and  perfection  of  their  anatomical  formation," 
which  he  set  forth  with  enthusiasm  and  admiration.  He  was 
very  fond  of  antique  things,  especially  old  household  furni- 
ture, and  at  every  opportunity  would  purchase  such  articles 
as  were  antique  and  pleased  his  taste.  On  one  occasion  he 
hastened  home  to  inform  Maria  that  he  had  just  purchased  an 
article  of  great  beauty,  which  would  not  only  add  interest  to 
her  collection  but  to  her  comfort  and  pleasure.  Her  surprise 
was  expressed  with  such  displeasure  that  he  declined  to  inform 
her  what  the  article  was,  but  waited  until  it  arrived,  and  then 
calling  her  to  the  door,  pointed  out  to  hei;  an  old  arm-chair, 
the  antiquity,  beauty,  and  utility  of  which  he  was  setting 
forth  in  eloquent  words,  when  interrupted  by  the  impatient 
wife  with  the  cruel  statement  that  it  was  the  same  old  chair 
that  had  been  kicked  around  the  house  for  years,  which  she 
had  sent  to  the  auction  that  morning,  and  concluded  with  the 
further  statement  that  the  house  was  full  of  such  old  and  use- 
less trumpery.  He  was  very  fond  of  "  bacon  and  cabbage," 
and  would  occasionally  drive  to  some  farm-house  that  he 
might  gratify  his  appetite  to  his  heart's  content.  On  one 
such  occasion  he  drove  to  Rosedale  and  inquired  of  the  hostess 
if  she  would  have  for  dinner  that  day  the  dishes  he  so  much 
craved,  and,  being  answered  affirmatively,  added  that  he  would 
dine  with  her,  but  she  must  not  tell  Maria.     He  enjoyed  his 


PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES.  131 

meal  of  bacon  aud  cabbage,  and  returned  to  his  home  filled 
with  that  contentment  which  such  a  dinner  affords  to  the 
votaries  of  such  fond  desire. 

Dr.  Bohrer  was  a  public -spirited  citizen,  always  taking  a 
lively  interest  in  every  movement  inaugurated  to  promote  the 
progress  of  his  native  town.  He  claimed  and  believed  that 
Georgetown  would  ultimately  become  the  rival  of  the  City  of 
Baltimore.  His  labors  were  not,  however,  limited  to  matters 
of  material  progress;  other  subjects  of  higher  interest  to 
humanity  occupied  his  attention.  He  was,  as  is  clearly 
shown  by  the  following  rough  draft  of  a  letter  found  among 
his  papers,  addressed  to  an  unknown  member  of  Congress, 
the  originator  of  the  project  to  establish  an  insane  asylum  in 
this  district. 

My  Dear  Sir  :  Having  an  opportunity  by  your  nephew  Josepli,  I 
avail  myself  of  it  to  ask  the  fevor  at  your  leisure  to  communicate  to 
me  in  form  for  statement  the  fact  that  several  years  ago  (if  you  recol- 
lect the  session,  state  it)  I  suggested  to  you  the  necessity  and  humanity 
of  establishing  in  this  District  a  lunatic  asylum,  and  that  in  accord- 
ance with  this  representation  you  offered  in  the  House  of  Eepresenta- 
tives  a  resolution  to  that  effect.  There  are  some  movements  now  on 
the  tapis  which  give  some  interest  to  this  fiict,  and  which  justice  to 
myself  (not  pecuniary  calculation)  make  me  anxious  to  prove  the  early 
period  at  which  I  engaged  in  this  matter. 

He  established  a  charity  fund,  to  be  dispensed  by  his  good 
wife,  by  setting  apart  from  his  income  each  month  a  certain 
sum  of  money,  with  instructions  never  to  allow  an  applicant 
for  alms  to  go  away  empty  handed,  preferring  the  risk  of 
giving  to  the  unworthy  rather  than  fail  to  reach  the  worthy. 

Among  his  papers  was  found,  in  his  own  handwriting,  a 
manuscript  essay,  entitled  "A  Succinct  Account  of  the  Influ- 
enza as  it  Appeared  in  Georgetown  (District  of  Columbia), 
A.  D.  1807."  It  has  recently  been  published,  by  request,  in 
Food,  June,  1894,  page  403.  It  exhibits  the  careful  and 
painstaking  observations  of  an  intelligent  physician,  written 
in  a  simple  aud  polished  style. 


132  PERSONAL  BEMiyiSCENCES, 

In  his  decliuiug  years  he  passed  much  of  his  leisure  time 
in  his  library,  which  contained  many  standard  works  of  liter- 
ature, science,  and  medicine.  There  he  would  read  aud  re- 
read the  works  of  his  favorite  authors,  seeming  never  willing 
to  confess  that  he  was  sufficiently  familiar  with  them. 

He  was  never  willing  to  confess  his  age,  and  answered 
inquiries  with  the  words,  "  Old  enough  to  be  better." 

Alexander  McWilliams  w^as  born  in  St.  Mary's  County, 
Maryland,  of  Scotch  descent.  The  first  one  of  the  family 
who  came  to  this  country  escaped  from  threatened  arrest  for 
treason  on  account  of  political  connections  with  the  party  of 
the  Pretender.  Soon  after  graduating  at  the  University  of 
Pennsylvania,  Dr.  McWilliams  entered  the  United  States 
Navy  (1802)  as  assistant  surgeon,  and  was  soon  thereafter 
ordered  to  sea  in  one  of  Jeffersoli's  gun-boats.  He  served 
during  the  Tripolitan  War,  and  was  present  at  the  burning 
of  the  "  Philadelphia."  On  his  return  voyage  he  was  taken 
ill  with  a  continued  fever  and  left  at  Gibraltar,  remaining 
there  several  weeks.  He  returned  home  on  the  frigate  "  Con- 
stitution," aud  was  then  stationed  at  the  navy  yard  in  this 
city.  A  short  time  after  (1805)  he  resigned  his  position  in 
the  navy,  and  commenced  private  practice,  locating  himself 
near  the  navy  yard,  which  was  then  the  most  thickly  popu- 
lated part  of  the  city,  and  seemed  to  offer  the  best  prospect 
for  the  practice  of  his  profession.  It  is  said  that  Dr.  Fred- 
erick May  expressed  to  him  his  regret  that  he  should  com- 
mence the  practice  of  medicine  in  this  city,  as  there  was  no 
more  business  than  he  (May)  could  conveniently  attend  to. 

Dr.  McWilliams  was  very  fond  of  natural  science  in  all  its 
branches,  but  more  especially  of  botany,  to  which  he  devoted 
much  attention,  and  would  frequently,  during  the  proper 
season,  neglect  his  professional  business  to  make  excursions 
in  search  of  new  plants  and  flowers.  During  the  early  years 
of  the  existence  of  the  Medical  Department  of  the  Columbian 
University  he  Avas  Professor  of  Botany,  and,  subsequently, 
published  a  work  on  the  Flora  of  the  District  of  Columbia. 


PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES.  ]  33 

He  was  one  of  the  "Botanic  Club,"  which  pubhshed  in  1830 
the  Prodi'omus  of  the  Flora  Columbiana.  He  was  the  first 
resident  to  erect  a  conservatory,  which  he  filled  with  many 
rare  plants.  This  he  superintended  and  managed  in  person 
for  his  own  amusement,  without  any  commercial  purpose. 
Connected  with  the  conservatory  was  a  large  aviary,  in  which 
he  had  manv  rare  foreign  birds.  He  was  also  a  good  mineral- 
ogist,  and  made  a  large  collection  of  minerals. 

His  inventiv^e  genius  was  somewhat  remarkable,  but  un- 
profitable. He  invented  a  ship  gauge  to  measure  the  draft  of 
water  a  vessel  would  draw  and  to  determine  the  depth  of  the 
water.  This  was  approved  by  a  board  of  naval  officers,  but 
never  adopted,  and  consequently  he  failed  to  realize  any  profit 
from  its  manufacture.  Many  models  of  other  inventions  were 
destroyed  by  fire  in  the  Patent  Office  many  years  ago.  He 
was  the  first  physician  to  employ  adhesive  plaster  to  make 
extension  in  cases  of  fractured  legs. 

He  died  in  1850,  about  two  years  after  I  came  to  this  city. 
He  was  not  then  engaged  in  private  practice,  but  confined  his 
professional  labors  exclusively  to  his  duties  at  the  Aims- 
House,  of  which  he  was  the  physician.  He  was  an  active 
thinker  on  medical  subjects  even  at  that  late  date  of  his  ad- 
vanced age.  I  recall  a  discussion  on  the  relation  of  typhus 
and  typhoid  fever,  in  which  he  maintained  their  unity. 

He  was  blessed  with  an  affectionate  disposition,  kind  heart, 
and  generous  impulses,  which  he  cultivated  throughout  a  long 
and  useful  life,  and  was  mourned  by  his  colleagues  and  con- 
temporaries as  the  patriarch  of  the  profession,  who  had  been 
spared  by  Providence  to  his  numerous  friends  and  patients  for 
so  many  years. 

To  enable  me  to  introduce  the  following  itemized  account  for 
medical  services,  as  an  example  of  the  business  method  of  fifty- 
seven  years  ago,  the  original  of  which  is  now  iu  my  possession, 
I  quote  the  following  sketch  of  Henry  Huntt,  one  of  the  found- 
ers, from  Dr.  \V.  W.  Johnston's  address  at  the  seventy-fifth 
anniversary  of  the  Medical  Society  of  the  District  of  Columbia : 


134 


PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES. 


Mrs.  Lear  Wilson,          To  Estate  of  Dr.  H.  Huxtt,  Dr. 

1837.     To  balance  on  account  rendered  to  January,  1837  .     $10.00 
Feb.    5.     "   woman,  v.,  $1.50;  Miss  Lear,  v.,  $1.50  ;  7th,  v., 

$1.50;  10th,  v.,  $1.50 6.00 

"    13.     "   woman,  v.,  $1.50  ;  15th,  v.,  $1.50  ;    17th,  boy,  v., 

$1.50 ;  18th,  daughter,  v.,  $1.50       .        .         .        6.00 
"    20.     "   boy,  v.,  $1.50;    20th,  v.,  $1.50 ;  21st,  negroes,  2, 

v.,  $2.00;  22d,  v.,  $1.50 6.50 

"    23,     "    v.,  $1.50;  24th,  v.,  $1.50  ;   25th,  v.,  $1.50  ;  27th, 

boy,  v.,  $1.50 6.00 

Mar.    1.     "    boy,  v.,  $1.50;  3d,  v.,  $1.50;  5th,  boy,  v.  and 

cons,  with  Dr.  Lindsley,  $5      .        .         .         .        8.00 
"      7.     "   V.  and   cons.,  $2.00;   '9th,  v.  and  cons.,  $2.00; 

4th,  v.,  $1.50 5.50 

"    16.     "   woman,  v.,  $1.50;  17th,  v.,  $1.50;  18th,  v.,  $1.50; 

24th,  v.,  $1.50 ;  25th,  son,  v.,  and  est.  issue,  $3,        9.00 
"    30.     "   v.,  $1.50  ;  May  6th,  self,  v.,  $1.50 ;  8th,  v.,  $1.50; 
May  11th,  self,  v.,  $1.50 ;  15th,  v.,  $1.50 ;  16th, 

negroes,  v.,  $1.50 9.00 

May  17.     "   v.,  $1.50;   18th,  v.,  $1.50;  23d,  v.,  $1.50;  24th, 

v.,  $1.50  ;•  26th,  v.,  $1.50  ;  29th,  v.,  $1.50.         .        9.00 
June  22.    "    man,  v.,  $1.50 ;  25th,  v.,  $1.50;  26th,  self,  estg. 

issue,  $3.00  ;  v.,  $1.50 7.50 

'Aug.  21.    "   self,  v.,  $1.50;    22d,  v.,  $1.50;  24th,  v.,  $1.50; 

28th,  v.,  $1.50 ;  29th,  v.,  $1.50 ;  30th,  v.,  $1.50,        9.00 
Sept.   1.    "   self,  v.,  $1.50;  3d,  v.,  $1.50;  4th,  v.,  $1.50  ;  6th, 
v.,  $1.50;  8th,  v.,  $1.50 ;  9th,  v.,  $1.50;  11th, 
boy,  v.,  $1.50;  13th,  v.,  $1.50.         .         .         .       12.00 
"     14.    "   v.,  $150;  16th,  v.,  $1.50;  18th,  v.,  $1.50;  19th, 
$1.50 ;  21st,  v.,  $1.50  ;  22d,  v.,  $1.50  ;  24th,  v., 

$1.50;  26th,  v.,  $1.50 12.00 

"     28.    "   self  and  servants,  v.,  $1.50  ;  5th,  self,  v.,  $1.50 ; 
30th,  v.,  $1.50  ;    Oct.  2,  self,  v.,  $1.50;  3d,  self 
and  servants,  v.,  $1.50      .....        7.50 
Oct.     4.     "    v.,  $1.50;  5th,  v.,  $1.50;  7th,  v.,  $1.50:  9th,  V. 
$1.50;  10th,  v.,  $1.50;  12th,  v.,  $1.50;  13th 

V.  $1.50 10.50 

"    15.     "   v.,  $1.50;  17th,  v.,  $1.50;  19th,  v.,  $1.50;  21st,  V 
$1.50;  23d,  v.,  $1.50;  25th,  v.,  $1.50;  27th,  v, 

$1.50 10.50 

"    28.     "   v.,  $1.50  ;  31st,  v.,  .$1.50  ;  Nov.  1,  self,  v.,  $1.50 

3d,  v.,  $1.50;  4th,  v.,  $1.50;  6th,  v.,  $1.50        .        9.00 
Nov.    8.     "   v.,  $1.50  ;  15th,  v.,  $1.50  ;  31st,  v.,  $1.50     .        .        4.50 

$167.60 
f 


PERSONAL  REMIXISCENCES.  135 

Huntt  was  a  dandy ;  he  was  the  first  doctor  to  use  a  gig,  drove  a 
fine  horse,  and  was  followed  by  two  dogs;  he  had  more  tact,  too,  than 
any  doctor  Dr.  Borrows  (my  authority)  had  ever  known ;  though 
somewhat  abrupt,  he  was  still  agreeable,  and  ever  maintained  his 
own  dignity  and  the  respectability  of  the  i^rofession.  He  had  served 
as  surgeon's  assistant  in  the  navj',  and  during  the  war  of  1815  distin- 
guished himself  as  a  surgeon  and  operator.  After  this  he  was  in 
active  practice ;  was  connected  with  the  Health  Office,  organized  the 
Board  of  Health,  and  was  zealous  in  literary  work. 

I  never  saw  George  Washington  May,  who  died  in  1845, 
but  have  known  and  attended  the  survivors  of  his  immediate 
family  for  many  years.  I  am  permitted  to  copy  the  follow- 
ing certificates  which  were  found  in  the  tin  case  with  his 
diploma,  and  are  now  in  my  possession  : 

Union  School,  Portland,  Nov.  9,  1799. 
To  all  luhom  it  may  concern  ! 

Master  George  Washington  May  is  this  day  dismissed  with  great 
reluctance,  because  he  has  been  a  good  Boy,  and  we,  are  of  opinion 
has  made  good  progress  in  his  Learning  under  the  care  of 

Thos.  M.  Peextiss  and  Sister. 

Harvard  University  did  not  confer  the  degree  of  Doctor  of 
Medicine  prior  to  1813,  and  the  presumption  is  that  Dr.  May 
was  among  the  first  to  receive  the  degree  from  it.  The  fol- 
lowing certificate  may  therefore  be  of  special  interest : 

At  a  meeting  of  the  Faculty  of  Medicine  of  Harvard  University 
on  the  5th  day  of  February,  1813,  voted  To  recommend  George  W. 
May,  A.B.,  of  Boston,  to  the  Honorable  and  Keverend  President  and 
Coi'poration  of  Harvard  University  for  the  public  examination  at  the 
ensuing  Commencement. 

I.  N.  Warkex, 
Sec'y  Faculty  of  Medicine. 

Dr.  Thomas  Henderson  was  born  in  Dumfries,  Prince 
William  County,  Virginia.  He  was  the  youngest  son  of 
Alexander  Henderson,  Esq.,  of  Dumfries,  and  a  brother  of 
General  Archibald  Henderson,  for  many  years  the  command- 
ant of  the  United  States  Marine  Corps.     After  completing 


136  PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES. 

his  professional  studies  in  Philadelphia,  Pennsylvania,  he 
married  Anna,  daughter  of  Commodore  Thomas  Truxtou, 
United  States  Navy,  and  soon  after  settled  for  the  practice  of 
his  profession  in  Warrenton,  Virginia.  In  1816  he  moved 
to  Georgetown,  District  of  Columbia,  and  thence  to  Wash- 
ington City  in  1826. 

In  1833  he  was  appointed  a  surgeon  in  the  United  States 
Army,  and  was  assigned  to  duty  at  the  United  States  Military 
Academy  at  West  Point.  For  upward  of  twenty  years  he 
faithfully  performed  his  duties  as  an  army  officer.  For  many 
years  he  was  the  Professor  of  the  Theory  and  Practice  of 
Medicine,  Columbia  College,  District  of  Columbia,  and  while 
in  this  chair  he  published  a  translation  of  Bichat's  work  on 
Human  Pathology.  His  eminent  professional  abilities  caused 
the  Surgeon-General  to  detail  him,  soon  after  his  entrance 
into  the  United  States  Army,  on  special  duty  as  a  member  of 
various  medical  boards  for  the  examination  of  candidates  for 
admission  into  the  medical  staff  of  the  army. 

While  attending  one  of  these  boards  he  presented  a  project 
for  regulating  the  standard  of  proficiency  at  these  examina- 
tions. It  met  with  the  unanimous  approval  of  the  Board, 
was  promptly  adopted  by  the  War  Department,  and  consti- 
tuted the  basis  upon  which  the  JNIedical  Corps  of  the  Army 
has  been  organized  since  1834. 

In  1840  he  prepared  a  manual  for  the  United  States  Re- 
cruiting Service,  furnishing  useful  "  hints  "  to  army  officers 
on  this  important  duty.  In  1845  he  published  in  the  Na- 
tional  InteUigencer  a  series  of  letters  addressed  to  the  Hon. 
Mr.  Bancroft,  then  Secretary  of  the  Navy,  on  the  importance 
of  establishing  a  United  States  naval  school.  These  letters 
appeared  over  the  signature  of  "  Washington,"  and  presented 
in  such  a  striking  aspect  the  beneficial  influence  which  the 
United  States  Military  Academy  had  exerted  in  elevating  the 
scientific  and  moral  character  of  the  officers  of  the  army,  and 
the  duty  which  the  Government  owed  to  the  navy  in  affording 
equal  advantages  in  these  ^particulars,  that  it  is  believed  that 


PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES.  137 

these  letters  had  some  influence  in  calling  public  opinion  to  the 
establishment  of  the  United  States  Naval  School  at  Annapolis. 

During  his  residence  in  Georgetown,  in  1816,  in  conjunction 
with  his  friends,  Francis  S.  Key,  W.  W.  Corcoran,  Messrs. 
Clem  and  Walter  Smith,  Jerry  AVilliams,  and  others,  so  well 
remembered  in  the  District,  he  was  pz'incipally  instrumental 
in  the  rebuilding  of  Christ  Church  in  that  city,  and  after 
removing  to  Washington  he  carried  out  the  same  principles 
in  establishing  Trinity  Church.  It  was  in  the  house  of  Dr. 
Henderson  that  the  first  meetings  were  held  that  led  to  the 
establishment  of  the  Theological  Seminary  near  Alexandria, 
Virginia,  being  sustained  in  this  work  by  his  friends  Key, 
Uilmer,  Meade,  and  Hawley. 

As  a  professional  man  few  enjoyed  a  higher  reputation.  To 
intellectual  qualities  of  the  highest  order  were  added  the  judg- 
ment, watchfulness,  and  tenderness  which  give  so  much  value 
to  the  services  of  a  physician. 

He  died  August  11,  1854,  aged  sixty-five  years,  at  the  res- 
idence of  his  son-in-law.  General  Francis  H.  Smith,  Com- 
mandant Virginia  Military  Institute,  Lexington,  Virginia. 

After  a  most  diligent  search  and  inquiry  I  have  found  it 
impossible  to  supply  the  omissions  in  the  tabulated  statement 
of  the  founders.  Of  Joel  T.  Gustiue  and  James  T.  Johnson 
nothing  whatsoever  can  be  discovered,  except  their  signatures 
to  the  charter.  James  H.  Blake,  Elisha  Harrison,  aud  John 
T.  Shaatf  died  in  1819,  the  year  the  Society  was  chartered  by 
act  of  Congress.  At  the  first  meeting,  held  March  3,  1819, 
Blake  was  elected  one  of  the  Vice-Presidents,  and  Shaalf  one 
of  the  Board  of  Examiners,  and  in  April  succeeding  Shaaff 
was  elected  one  of  three  delegates  to  the  convention  of  the 
Middle  States,  which  assembled  in  Philadelphia  in  the  follow- 
ing June,  for  the  "purpose  of  forming  and  publishing  an 
American  Pharmacopoeia."  Neither  of  their  names  ever 
appears  again  in  any  of  the  proceedings  of  the  Society. 

Three  of  the  founders  were  licentiates  of  the  ^ledical  and 
Chirurgical  Faculty  of  Maryland,  organized  in  1798.     One 


138  PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES. 

of  the  three,  Huntt,  graduated  from  the  University  of  Mary- 
land in  1824,  five  years  after  the  foundation  of  the  Medical 
Society  of  the  District  of  Columbia.  Another  of  the  foun- 
ders, Thomas  Sim,  did  not  graduate  in  medicine  until  1823, 
and  does  not  seem  to  have  been  legally  qualified  to  practice 
medicine  previous  to  that  date,  except  by  the  act  of  Congress 
granting  the  charter  of  the  Society  in  1819.  He  must,  how- 
ever, have  been  a  man  of  some  distinction,  or  he  would  not 
have  been  the  second  President  of  the  Society,  for  in  those 
days  favors  did  not  go  so  much  by  kissing.  He  had  been 
selected  by  the  meeting  of  physicians  of  the  District  in  1813, 
the  first  assemblage  in  an  associate  capacity,  to  deliver  a 
eulogy  upon  the  life  and  character  of  Dr.  Benjamin  Rush, 
which  was  delivered  June  26, 1813,  and  published  in  pamphlet 
form. 


CHAPTEE  IX. 


Brief  Biographical  Sketches  of  Those  Members  of  the  Society  Who  Lived 
Seventy  Years  and  More,  Excepting  Those  Who  Were  Founders,  and 
Several  Who  Had  Died  or  Moved  Away  Before  I  Came  to  the  City. 

The  following  alphabetical  and  tabulated  arrangement  of 
the  twenty-eight  members  who  lived  beyond  threescore  and 
ten  years  is  a  condensed  statement  of  information  relating  to 
the  professional  lives  of  each  one  of  them,  which  shows  at  a 
glance  their  comparative  ages  and  the  duration  of  their  profes- 
sional lives. 


No.  of 

No.  of 

admis- 
sion 
to  the 
Society. 

Date  of 
graduation 
in  medicine. 

Date  of 
Death. 

living 
after 
gradu- 
ation. 

of  con- 
tinuous 
mem- 
bership 

Founders. 

Age. 

Antisell,  Thomas 

1859 

1839 

1893 

54 

34 

76 

Blake,  John  B. 

1826 

1824 

1881 

57 

55 

81 

Bohrer,  B.  S. 

1817 

1810 

1862 

52 

45 

Founder 

75 

Borrows,  Joseph 

1838 

1828 

1889 

61 

51 

82 

Cutbush,  Edward 

1820 

1794 

1843 

49 

23 

71 

Condict,  H.  F. 

1838 

1830 

1893 

63 

55 

89 

Dawes,  Frederick 

1838 

1852 

74 

Dick,  E.  C. 

1817 

1782 

1825 

83 

8 

75 

Fairfax,  Orlando 

1830 

1829 

1882 

53 

51 

76 

Hall,  J.  C. 

1838 

1827 

1880 

53 

42 

75 

Howard.  F. 

1842 

1841 

1888 

47 

46 

77 

Jones,  William 

1S17 

L.M.C.F. 

1867 

50 

50 

Founder 

77 

Johnson,  Richmond 

1834 

1826 

1874 

48 

40 

83 

Lieberman,  C.  H. 

1844 

1836 

1886 

50 

42 

74 

Lindsly,  Harvey 

18.34 

1828 

1889 

61 

55 

85 

Magruder,  Hezekiah 

1850 

1826 

1874 

48 

24 

70 

May,  Frederick 

1817 

1795 

1847 

52 

30 

Founder 

74 

Mav,  J.  F.                         1 

1840 

1834 

1891 

57 

61 

80 

Mc William,  Alex. 

1817 

1850 

33 

Founder 

75 

Patze,  Adolphus 

1864 

1838 

1886 

48 

22 

82 

Riley,  Joshua 

1827 

1824 

1875 

51 

48 

75 

Ritchie,  Joshua 

1840 

1839 

1887 

46 

47 

72 

Tyson,  S.  E. 

1848 

1832 

1883 

53 

35 

74 

Tyler,  Grafton 

1846 

1833 

1884 

51 

38 

73 

Walsh,  Joseph 

1843 

1843 

1879 

36 

31 

73 

Warfield,  P. 

1817 

L.M.C.F. 

1856 

39 

Founder 

76 

Worthington,  C. 

1817 

1782 

1836 

54 

39 

Founder 

77 

Young,  Noble 

1838 

1828 

1883 

55 

45 

75 

140  PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES. 

The  youngest  died  at  seventy,  in  1874,  and  the  oldest  at 
eighty-nine,  in  1893.  The  average  age  of  twenty-six  was 
seventy-six  and  one-half  years,  sixteen  of  whom  lived  for  a 
period  varying  from  fifty  to  sixty-three  years  after  gradua- 
tion, and  seven  held  continuous  membership  in  the  Medical 
Society  of  the  District  of  Columbia  for  a  period  varying  from 
fifty  to  sixty-three  years.  This  seems  to  be  a  phenomenal 
exhibit  in  a  membership  of  five  hundred  and  sixty-four  in 
seventy-five  years,  with  a  living  membership  of  two  hundred 
and  fourteen  to-day  (February  16,  1894),  of  which  only  three 
have  reached  the  age  of  seventy,  and  not  one  is  as  old  as  the 
Society.  Cutbush  and  Dick  died  before  I  came  to  the  city ; 
Fairfax  lived  in  Alexandria,  Virginia,  and  Richmond  John- 
son was  employed  in  the  office  of  the  Surgeon-General  United 
States  Army. 

Thomas  Antisell  was  a  lineal  descendant  of  Sir  Bertine 
Entwysel,  "  who  accompanied  Henry  II.  to  Ireland."  He 
graduated  in  medicine  from  the  Royal  College  of  Surgeons, 
London,  and  subsequently  studied  chemistry  in  Paris  and 
Berlin.  He  practised  medicine  in  Dublin  until  1848,  when 
he  became  a  political  exile  on  account  of  his  connection 
with  the  Young  Ireland  party.  He  then  came  to  this 
country  and  settled  in  the  City  of  New  York,  where  he 
pursued  his  profession  until  1854,  when  he  accepted  the  posi- 
tion of  geologist  on  the  Park  Expedition  in  the  railroad 
survey  of  Southern  California  and  Arizona.  In  1856  he 
returned  from  the  expedition  and  accepted  the  position  of 
Chief  Examiner  in  the  Chemical  Department  of  the  Patent 
Office.  At  the  breaking  out  of  the  war  he  entered  the  vol- 
unteer service  as  brigade  surgeon,  and  at  its  close  was  mus- 
tered out  with  the  rank  of  brevet  lieutenant-colonel.  In  1871 
he  went  to  Japan  as  technologist  to  the  Government  commis- 
sion to  develop  the  resources  of  the  northern  islands  of  that 
Empire.  In  recognition  of  his  ability  and  as  a  testimonial  of 
his  personal  regard  for  Dr.  Antisell,  the  Emperor  of  Japan 
decorated  him  with  the  order  of  "  The  rising  sun  of  Merjii," 


PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES.  141 

making  him  a  nobleman  of  the  Empire,  with  the  right  to 
carry  two  swords.  After  his  return  from  Japan — 1877 — he 
resumed  his  pursuit  of  chemistry,  occupying  during  the  sub- 
sequent years  of  his  life  various  positions  of  distinction  in  the 
line  of  his  special  branch  of  science. 

Dr.  Antisell  Avas  a  popular  teacher.  He  began  as  a  lec- 
turer in  Dublin,  and  after  coming  to  this  country  occupied 
the  professorship  of  chemistry  in  the  colleges  at  Woodstock, 
Vermont ;  Pittsfield  and  Berkshire,  Massachusetts,  and  after- 
ward in  the  Medical  Departments  of  the  Columbian  and 
Georgetown  Universities,  He  was  for  a  period  Chemist  to 
the  Agricultural  Department,  and  finally  resumed  the  duties 
of  Examiner  in  the  Patent  Office. 

He  led  a  very  unobtrusive  home-life,  rarely  appearing  in 
public  except  where  his  duty  called  him.  He  was  faithful  to 
duty  and  conscientious  in  its  performance,  unostentatious  in 
manner,  and  cordial  in  friendship. 

John  B.  Blake  was  the  son  of  James  H.  Blake,  one  of  the 
founders  of  the  Society,  and  when  I  came  to  this  city  was  in 
the  employ  of  the  National  Government,  afterward  Commis- 
sioner of  Public  Buildings  and  Grounds,  and  later  President 
of  the  National  Metropolitan  Bank.  He  was  engaged  in  the 
practice  of  his  profession  but  for  a  brief  period ;  but  never, 
during  fifty-five  years  of  continuous  membership  in  this  soci- 
ety, did  he  permit  it  to  lapse  for  any  cause.  He  was  distin- 
guished for  his  esthetic  politeness  and  rigid  observance  of  the 
amenities  of  social  life.  He  met  everybody  with  a  cordial 
and  cheery  salutation.  No  sorrow  or  grief  clouded  his  inter- 
course with  the  world  of  mankind,  and  the  afflicted  and  dis- 
tressed left  his  company  with  that  sense  of  relief  which  comes 
from  frank  sympathy  and  kindheartedness,  which  lessens,  if 
it  does  not  banish  gloom  and  despair.  People  sought  him 
for  the  consolation  and  good  advice  which  his  kindly  nature 
kept  in  store. 

He  was  widely  known  as  the  indulgent  father  of  a  unique 
^nd  original  son,  whose  life  was  devoted  to  dress,  ladies'  society 


142  PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES. 

— when  tolerated — and  to  the  concoction  of  puns,  the  most 
of  which  were  as  asinine  as  inappropriate.  He  was,  never- 
theless, a  graduate  in  medicine,  and  familiarly  known  as  Dr. 
Ebenezer  Tucker.  His  dress  was  sometimes  so  extreme  in 
style,  fashion,  and  make-up,  with  cuffs  and  collars  to  match, 
trousers  to  walk  in,  trousers  to  sit  in,  and  trousers  for  iuter- 
mediate  purposes,  that  an  otherwise  ungainly  figure  was  trans- 
formed into  a  grotesque  and  ludicrous  automaton. 

Joseph  Borrows  was  dominated  by  skepticisms.  Meet  him 
when  and  where  you  might,  if  the  opportunity  occurred,  he 
would  give  expression  to  his  conclusions  and  convictions,  not 
offensively  or  casually,  as  if  they  were  impromptu  declara- 
tions, but  rather  as  the  result  of  consideration  and  mature 
deliberations,  which  were  sometimes  so  skeptical  as  to  appear 
erratic.  There  are  members  who  cannot  have  forgotten  his 
occasional  explosions  during  discussions  upon  subjects  under 
consideration,  during  which  he  would,  sometimes  with  vehe- 
mence and  contempt,  denounce  the  advances  in  pathology  and 
physiological  therapeutics.  He  had  very  little  respect  for 
new  things,  and  not  much  for  old,  unless  they  were  in  accord 
with  his  erratic  skepticisms.  He  was  essentially  an  iconoclast 
and  disbeliever  in  general. 

Dr.  Borrows  took  great  pleasure  in  narrating  the  circum- 
stance of  having  successfully  vaccinated  an  infant  fifteen  min- 
utes old,  because  of  the  presence  of  a  case  of  smallpox  in  the 
house  where  the  baby  was  born.  He  often  said  his  belief  in 
the  "  power  of  mercury  was  so  great  that  he  almost  believed 
it  would  raise  the  dead." 

Dr.  T.  C.  Smith  supplies  the  following  memorandum  of  the 
last  case  of  labor  attended  by  Dr.  Borrows.  The  amusing 
feature  of  the  case  was  the  appearance  of  Dr.  Borrows  when 
Dr.  Smith  reached  the  house  of  the  patient,  "  It  was  one  of 
so-called  retained  placenta,  which  Dr.  Borrows  was  trying  to 
remove.  He  wore  a  suit  of  black  cloth,  but  had  removed  his 
coat.  It  was  a  warm  day,  and  the  perspiration  was  pouring 
down  his  face.     From  the  top  of  his  head  to  his  shoes  he  was 


PERSONAL  BEMINISCENCES.  143 

smeared  with  smegma,  mucus,  and  blood.  It  was  apparent 
that  he  had  not  taken  time  to  use  a  towel  to  remove  the  per- 
spiration, but  had  used  his  soiled  hands,  and  had  wiped  them 
on  his  clothing." 

Dr.  Borrows  was  born  January,  1807,  in  a  small  one-story 
brick  dwelling,  which  is  still  standing,  at  the  southwest  corner 
of  Seventeenth  and  E  Streets,  N.  W.,  opposite  the  "  White 
Lot."  He  lived  in  this  city  longer  than  any  physician  who 
has  ever  resided  here — a  period  of  eighty-two  years,  begin- 
ning at  a  date  of  which  but  little  is  known  of  the  medical 
profession  in  this  city,  and  when  the  city  was  an  inchoate 
village. 

Henry  Ford  Condict  was  born  in  1804,  at  Littleton,  N.  J., 
where  he  attended  school  until  he  entered  Princeton  College, 
from  which  he  graduated  in  1822.  For  several  years  after- 
ward he  taught  a  private  class,  preparing  it  to  enter  college, 
after  which  he  began  the  study  of  medicine,  attending  lectures 
in  the  City  of  New  York,  and  graduated  in  1830  from  the 
University  of  Pennsylvania.  He  then  settled  in  this  city  and 
commenced  the  practice  of  medicine,  forming  a  copartnership 
with  Dr.  N.  P.  Causin,  whose  daughter  he  married.  He  con- 
tinued the  practice  of  his  profession  until  about  1875,  when 
he  retired  to  his  farm  in  Montgomery  County,  Maryland, 
where  he  died. 

He  was  devoted  to  the  study  of  the  classics,  very  ambitious 
in  the  accomplishment  of  everything  he  undertook,  and  was 
respected  for  his  humble  and  lovely  Christian  faith. 

Frederick  Dawes  was  an  Englishman,  and  a  graduate  of 
some  English  institution.  He  was  a  man  of  erudition  and 
scientific  attainments,  and  especially  noted  for  his  astuteness 
in  the  diagnosis  of  disease.  He  came  to  this  city  late  in  life, 
but  soon  acquired  a  lucrative  practice,  which  he  only  made 
available  to  meet  the  current  expenses  of  a  very  modest  style 
of  living.  I  knew  him  fairly  well,  but  never  met  him  in  the 
sick  room,  nor  did  I  ever  see  him  at  any  meeting  of  medical 
men.     Durino-  the  winter  of  1849  or  1850  there  was  an 


144  PERSONAL  REMIXISCEXCES. 

epidemic  of  smallpox  in  that  section  of  the  city  known  then,  as 
now,  as  Capitol  Hill,  which  occupied  my  attention  exclusively 
for  several  months,  and  so  effectively  isolated  me  that  it  prac- 
tically amounted  to  social  and  professional  ostracism.  Know- 
ing of  my  unfortunate  environment.  Dr.  Dawes  quite  frequently 
would  stop  and  talk  with  me  about  the  disease,  giving  me  such 
advice  and  information  as  he  thought  would  be  of  use  to  me. 
On  one  of  these  occasions  I  was  feeling  very  unwell,  and 
expressed  the  apprehension  that  I  had  contracted  the  disease. 
He  inquired  in  regard  to  my  symptoms,  examined  my  tongue 
with  great  care,  and  then  assured  me  that  I  need  not  feel  the 
least  uneasiness.  He  seemed  to  rely  more  upon  the  appear- 
ances of  the  tongue  than  upon  the  clinical  picture  as  a  whole, 
but  offered  no  explanation  of  their  significance.  He  was  one 
of  those  who  studied  with  great  care  the  tongue  in  disease, 
and  attached  great  importance  to  the  observations.  Dr. 
Dawes  was  a  heavy-built  man,  with  a  broad,  round  face, 
and  very  ruddy  complexion,  looking  like  a  man  who  knew 
the  good  things  of  the  world  and  how  to  enjoy  them.  He 
was  usually  neatly,  but  very  plainly  dressed,  and  very  simple 
and  unassuming  in  manner.  He  was  a  slovenly  snuff-fiend, 
and  carried  it  loosely  in  the  right-hand  pocket  of  his  vest, 
from  which  he  would  take  it  with  his  fingers,  and,  with  great 
nonchalance,  snuff  it  into  his  capacious  nostrils.  His  horse 
and  buggy  were  badly  kept,  and  he  jogged  along  the  streets 
as  unconcerned  as  if  no  care  disturbed  his  equanimity.  He 
seemed  to  be  always  happy,  and  content  to  accept  everything 
as  he  found  it. 

Elisha  Cullen  Dick  was  born  of  a  distinguished  and  wealthy 
Colonial  family  in  Pennsylvania  in  1752.  He  studied  medi- 
cine with  Rush  and  Shippen,  and  graduated  Bachelor  of  Med- 
ciue  in  the  class  with  Caspar  Wistar  in  1782.  He  selected 
Charleston,  South  Carolina,  as  the  location  to  practice  his 
profession,  and  on  his  way  thither  stopped  in  Alexandria, 
Virginia,  to  renew  his  acquaintance  with  a  relative,  who 
introduced  him  to  many  of  the  prominent  and  wealthy  fam- 


PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES.  145 

ilies  of  that  city,  by  whom  he  was  advised  to  locate  iu  that 
city,  at  that  time  not  numerously  supplied  witli  physicians. 
Flattered  by  the  opportunities  so  courteously  offered  him,  he 
returned  to  Pennsylvania,  sold  out  his  estate,  married,  aud 
returned  to  Alexandria  in  October,  1782,  where  he  began  the 
practice  of  medicine,  and  died  in  1825,  after  forty-two  years 
of  active  professional  life.  It  seems  probable  that  he  adopted 
the  middle  name — CuUen — after  graduation,  as  his  name  on 
the  roll  of  graduates  of  the  University  of  Pennsylvania  is 
simply  Elisha  Dick.  After  he  became  a  resident  of  Alex- 
andria he  invariably  signed  his  name  as  Elisha  C.  or  Elisha 
Cullen  Dick. 

Dr.  Dick  was  one  of  the  founders  of  the  first  lodge  of 
Masonry  in  Alexandria,  which  was  chartered  in  1783,  and  of 
which  he  was  elected  Worshipful  Master  in  1785,  and  annu- 
ally thereafter,  until  the  new  charter  in  the  name  of  Alexan- 
dria Lodge,  No.  22,  was  obtained  in  1788,  from  the  Grand 
Lodge  of  Virginia,  in  which  General  Washington  was  named 
as  Worshipful  Master.  After  the  retirement  of  General 
Washington,  in  1789,  he  was  again  re-elected,  and  continued 
to  hold  the  office  until  1795,  when  he  declined  a  re-election, 
but  was  again  elected  in  1797,  aud  served  until  December, 
1799.  This  review  of  his  official  counection  with  the  Masonic 
Order  is  preliminary  to  the  statement  of  the  fact  that  he  con- 
ducted the  Masonic  ceremonies  at  the  laying  of  the  corner- 
stone of  the  "  Ten  Miles  Square,"  or  District  of  Columbia, 
on  April  15,  1791,  at  Jones'  Point,  at  the  mouth  of  Hunting 
Creek,  below  Alexandria.  He  was  Worshipful  Master  in 
1793,  when  the  corner-stone  of  the  Capitol  was  laid,  ou  which 
occasion  he  marched  arm-in-arm  with  Washington,  and  took 
part  with  him  in  the  ceremonies.  He  also  conducted  the 
Masonic  services  at  the  funeral  and  burial  of  General  Wash- 
ington, and  presided  at  the  Lodge  of  Sorrow. 

When  he  joined  the  Medical  Society  of  the  District  of 
Columbia,  in  1817,  Alexandria  was  included  in  the  territorial 
area  of  the  "  Ten  Miles  Square."     This  was  during  the  pre- 

10 


146  PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES. 

liminary  organization,  but  his  name  does  not  appear  among 
those  who  petitioned  Congress  for  the  charter,  nor  among 
those  named  in  the  act  of  incorporation  passed  in  1819  ;  nor 
does  it  appear  that  he  ever  took  any  active  interest  in  the 
Society,  which  was  probably  due  to  his  age  (sixty-seven)  and 
the  distance  of  his  residence  (eight  miles)  from  the  place  of 
meeting. 

His  biographer.  Dr.  J.  M.  Toner,  from  whose  sketch  of  his 
life  and  history  the  foregoing  details  have  been  obtained,  char- 
acterizes him  as  a  man  of  learning  and  an  accomplished  phy- 
sician, who  enjoyed  the  confidence  of  a  very  large  clientele, 
and  was  beloved  by  the  community  in  which  he  practised  his 
profession  for  such  a  long  period  of  time. 

Dr.  Dick  was  one  of  the  two  consulting  physicians  and  the 
first  to  arrive  in  the  last  sickness  of  General  Washington,  and 
remained  with  the  illustrious  patient  during  the  last  nine 
hours  of  his  life,  striving  with  his  colleagues,  Craik  and 
Brown,  to  save  the  life  of  the  "  first  citizen  of  the  Republic." 

He  was  an  austere  man,  with  correct  habits,  courtly  man- 
ners, a  high  sense  of  honor,  but  somewhat  erratic  in  his  relig- 
ious faith.  He  was  born  and  raised  an  Episcopalian,  afterward 
joined  the  Presbyterian  Church,  and  finally  became  an  enthu- 
siastic member  of  the  Society  of  Friends,  in  which  faith  he 
died. 

His  life  is  chiefly  interesting  to  the  medical  profession  as 
one  who  was  so  intimately  associated  with  Washington,  laid 
the  corner-stone  of  the  District  of  Columbia,  and,  together 
with  Washington,  that  of  the  Capitol  in  1793,  and  was  one 
of  the  original  members  of  the  Medical  Society  of  the  District 
of  Columbia,  dating  the  beginning  of  his  membership  with 
the  first  year  of  its  preliminary  organization. 

The  historic  events  with  which  he  was  so  prominently  asso- 
ciated directly  connect  the  Medical  Society  of  the  District  of 
Columbia  and  the  profession  of  medicine  with  several  of  the 
most  noteworthy  and  conspicuous  occurrences  in  the  early 
history  and  foundation  of  this  District.     Before  going  from 


PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES.  147 

Alexandria  to  Jones'  Point  he  invoked  the  blessing  that  the 
stone  to  be  laid  might  "  remain  an  immovable  monument  of 
the  wisdom  and  unanimity  of  North  America,"  and  after  the 
return  of  the  Commissioners  and  others  to  Alexandria  he 
offered  the  following  sentiment :  "  Brethren  and  Gentlemen  : 
May  jealousy,  that  green-eyed  monster,  be  buried  deep  be- 
neath the  work  which  we  have  this  day  completed,  never  to 
rise  again  within  the  Federal  District." 

Orlando  Fairfax  was  born  and  resided  in  Alexandria  uutil 
the  breaking  out  of  the  War  of  the  Rebellion,  and  then 
removed  to  Richmond,  Virginia,  where  he  died  in  1882.  He 
was  a  son  of  Thomas,  the  ninth  Lord  Fairfax.  He  joined 
the  Society  in  1830,  but,  probably,  never  took  an  active 
interest  in  its  deliberations. 

James  Crowdhill  Hall  was  born  in  Alexandria  in  1805. 
His  father  died  during  his  infancy.  When  five  years  old  his 
mother  moved  to  this  city,  and  soon  afterward  married  Dr. 
Laurie,  a  distinguished  clergyman  then  residing  here.  After 
graduating  from  Jefferson  College,  at  Cannonsburg,  Pennsyl- 
vania, he  commenced  the  study  of  medicine  with  Dr.  Thomas 
Henderson,  one  of  the  founders  of  the  Medical  Society  of  the 
District  of  Columbia,  and  a  surgeon  in  the  United  States 
Army.  He  graduated  in  medicine  from  the  University  of 
Pennsylvania  in  1827,  and  immediately  entered  Blockley 
Hospital  as  one  of  the  resident  physicians,  where  he  re- 
mained for  one  year,  during  which  service  he  studied  and 
familiarized  himself  with  the  new  methods  of  investigation 
and  physical  exploration  which  were  then  being  introduced, 
and  thus  formed  the  pedestal  upon  which  the  statue  of  the 
future  man  was  erected.  With  a  thorough  preliminary  and 
professional  education,  a  mind  liberalized  and  expanded  by 
an  extensive  range  of  study,  a  penetrative  sagacity,  a  compre- 
hensiv^e  and  retentive  memory,  together  with  steadiness  of 
purpose,  zeal,  discipline,  and  industry,  it  is  not  surprising  that 
he  should  have  so  quickly  attained  a  brilliant  success,  and 
made  for  himself  an  enduring  reputation. 


148  PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES. 

I  knew  him  from  the  beginning  of  my  professional  career 
to  his  death,  and  enjoyed  his  friendship  and  confidence.  Our 
acquaintance  grew  more  intimate  as  life  advanced.  He  was 
a  skilful,  conscientious,  and  benevolent  physician,  more  will- 
ing to  render  service  to  the  suffering  poor  than  to  receive 
remuneration.  As  a  citizen  he  was  always  ready  and  willing 
to  discharge  fully  every  duty  of  good  citizeuship ;  as  a  friend, 
firm  and  unwavering,  never  omitting  and  never  failing  to 
meet  the  obligations  of  a  generous  and  unselfish  friendship. 
He  was  charitable,  just,  and  honorable — so  keenly  just  that 
he  would  overdo  rather  than  fall  short  of  the  full  measure  of 
justice. 

]!!Tone  other  than  an  extraordinary  man  could  have,  like 
him,  lived  in  a  community  for  fifty  years,  and  died  alike  hon- 
ored, beloved,  and  eminent  as  a  citizen  and  physician.  He 
found  the  city  a  village,  and  lived  to  see  it  grow  into  a  great 
and  beautiful  city,  and  never  ceased  to  feel  and  manifest 
interest  in  all  that  concerned  its  material  advancement  and 
the  welfare  and  happiness  of  its  people.  He  was  especially 
interested  in  the  charitable  institutions,  and  contributed  more 
money  to  such  purposes  than  the  entire  profession  combined. 
Besides  numerous  personal  charities  during  his  lifetime,  his 
bequests  to  the  Washington  City  Orphan  Asylum  and  the 
Children's  Hospital  of  the  District  of  Columbia  will  be  held 
through  many  years  to  come  in  commemoration  of  his  benev- 
olence. 

Of  his  many  commendable  characteristics,  none  was  more 
conspicuous  than  the  absence  of  that  desire  and  love  of  fame 
and  notoriety  which  too  often  mark  the  conduct  of  deserving 
men.  Had  he  been  animated  by  any  such  wish  he  could  have 
left  a  reputation  second  to  none  and  as  enduring  as  time.  He 
possessed  the  requisite  qualifications,  was  blessed  with  a  mind 
which  fitted  him  for  the  study  and  treatment  of  disease,  and 
was  favored  with  opportunities  which  no  other  physician  ever 
did  or  ever  will  command.  He  had  been  the  family  physician 
of  every  President  of  the  United  States,  beginning  with  Jack- 


PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES.  149 

son  and  ending  with  the  death  of  Lincohi's  son.  For  many 
years  he  attended  the  families  of  every  Justice  of  the  Supreme 
Court;  through  many  admiuistrations  the  families  of  every 
Cabinet  officer  ;  and  for  a  long  series  of  years  every  foreign 
legation  residiug  in  this  city,  and  every  prominent  Senator  and 
member  of  the  House  of  Representatives ;  the  heads  of  depart- 
ments, and  many  honored  citizens  long  since  passed  away.  In 
all  the  relations  of  this  remarkable  career  he  discharged  the 
obligatious  of  a  great  and  good  physician  with  skill  and 
fidelity,  without  ostentation,  and  free  from  selfish  ambition. 

Another  characteristic  consisted  in  the  remarkable  influence 
he  possessed  and  maintained  to  the  day  of  his  death.  Although 
he  had  retired  from  active  practice  for  twenty  years,  his  pro- 
fessional advice  was  constantly  sought  by  both  physicians  and 
laymen.  This  power  and  influence  came  to  him  ;  he  had  not 
acquired  it  by  any  sinister  or  improper  methods.  Had  it 
been  otherwise,  it  would  have  vanished  the  moment  he  volun- 
tarily relinquished  his  hold  upon  the  community  by  the  aban- 
donment of  a  large  and  lucrative  business.  The  announcement 
of  his  withdrawal  from  the  active  pursuit  of  his  profession 
severed  his  professional  relations  with  the  largest  and  most 
influential  dientUe  ever  held  by  a  medical  man  in  this  city, 
and  yet  it  did  not  abate  his  power  and  influence. 

Not  less  remarkable  were  his  willingness  and  readiness  to 
assist  young  medical  men.  He  was  alwaj's  prompt  to  assist 
the  enterprising  and  qualified,  not  only  to  indorse  them,  but 
to  uphold  them  at  the  bedside  in  difficult  cases,  or  where 
confidence  was  lacking.  He  gathered  young  men  around 
him,  taught  them,  and  endeared  himself  to  them.  He  not 
only  made  friends,  but  had  the  rare  quality  of  never  losing 
them. 

AVith  a  temperament  so  rich  in  those  elements  of  human 
character  which  elevate  and  ennoble  the  nature  of  man,  he, 
nevertheless,  possessed  peculiarities  which  marked  his  indi- 
viduality. At  times  he  exhibited  a  quality  which  some  people 
were  wont  to  call  testiness.    When  approached  with  a  saluta- 


150  PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES. 

tion  not  in  accord  with  his  own  conception  of  conditions,  he 
would,  at  times,  reply  with  prompt  acrimony.  For  instance, 
on  one  occasion  I  called  to  see  him,  and  after  hearing  his 
response  to  my  inquiry  in  regard  to  his  health  that  he  was 
feeling  very  unwell,  I  expressed  my  regret,  adding  that  I 
hoped  he  would  soon  regain  his  accustomed  health.  After  a 
few  minutes'  silence  he  remarked  that  he  had  taken  a  short 
walk  during  the  morning,  and  had  met — naming  the  gentle- 
men— two  d — n  fools,  who  had  congratulated  him  upon  his 
appearance  and  good  health,  when  he  was  feeling  as  miserable 
as  he  could.  I  met  the  two  gentlemen  during  the  day,  for 
they  were  mutual  friends,  and  each  related  the  circumstance 
and  complained  of  his  bad  temper.  If  they  had  first  inquired 
of  him  about  his  health,  and  added  their  regret  or  pleasure, 
as  the  case  might  have  been,  no  such  testiness  would  have 
been  exhibited.  On  another  occasion  a  tale-bearing  friend 
called  to  tell  him  of  some  stories  being  circulated  to  his  dis- 
credit, to  which  he  promptly  and  petulantly  responded, 
"  What  the  d — 1  do  I  care  for  stories ;  it  is  the  truth  I 
fear ;  I  do  not  listen  to  stories."  He  was  a  great  admirer  of 
women  and  lover  of  flowers,  and  yet  at  times,  when  some 
valued  female  friend  would  bring  or  send  him  a  bouquet,  he 
would  give  expression  to  the  greatest  dislike  for  both.  He 
disliked  personal  solicitations  for  charity,  and  took  the  utmost 
care  to  conceal  all  such  contributions  by  enclosing  the  amount 
in  an  envelope  addressed  by  some  other  person  than  himself, 
or  sent  it  through  some  person,  with  the  strictest  injunction 
not  to  let  it  be  known  from  whom  it  came.  He  was  always 
very  derelict  in  making  charges  for  professional  services,  and 
worse  in  collecting  such  few  charges  as  he  would  make,  but 
very  particular  in  all  business  transactions,  and  especially 
cautious  in  making  investments.  His  income  was  so  largely 
in  excess  of  his  wants  and  charities  that  at  times  his  bank 
balance  would  reach  a  very  large  sum,  but  he  would  hold  on 
to  it  until  he  could  find  an  investment  entirely  satisfactory 
and  secure. 


PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES.  151 

Dr.  Hall  Avas  a  great  favorite  of  Professor  "William  Gib- 
son aud  his  chief  assistant  while  resident  at  the  Blockley 
Hospital. 

His  report  of  the  dissection  of  the  case  of  "Axillary  Aneu- 
rism/' caused  by  reduction  of  a  dislocated  shoulder  by  Gibson, 
after  six  months'  duration,  will  be  found  in  the  Amencan 
Journal  of  the  Medical  Sciences,  1828,  pages  136-50.  In 
1830  he  occupied  the  Chair  of  Surgery  in  the  Columbian  Uni- 
versity, District  of  Columbia,  but  soon  retired  because  of  his 
enormous  business.  His  death  was  sudden  and  unexpected, 
at  the  age  of  seventy-five. 

I  have  in  my  library  a  bound  volume  of  manuscript  notes 
of  Chapman's  lectures,  taken  in  1826  by  Dr.  Hall,  in  which 
there  are  many  very  curious  statements,  a  few  of  which  are 
as  follows  : 

From  the  notes  of  the  lecture  on  "  Hydrocephalus "  the 
following  :  "  Chapman  '  has  seen  several  cases  in  girls  about 
the  age  of  puberty  caused  by  metastasis  of  action  from  the 
uterus  to  the  brain.'  " 

The  lecture  on  "Angina  Pectoris  "  begins  with  the  state- 
ment :  "  Chapman  believes  it  to  be  an  arthritic  affection,  in 
every  case  extend iug  to  the  pulmonary  apparatus."  Again, 
further  on  :  "  Many  cases  that  have  a  decided  character  of 
angina  pectoris  afterward  terminated  in  well-marked  gout 
cases  :  A  gentleman  long  affected  with  this  affection  had  gout 
induced  in  his  extremities  by  the  use  of  sinapisms,  and  the 
former  affection  was  relieved ;  but,  improperly  removing  the 
sinapisms,  the  disease  suddenly  returned  to  its  place,  and 
instantaneously  killed  him.  Many  other  cases  C.  related  that 
proved  this  disease  to  be  a  modification  of  gout." 

In  enumerating  the  causes  of  epilepsy  the  notes  record  the 
statement  that  it  is  "  usually  assigned  to  a  certain  state  of  the 
nervous  system — a  peculiar  sensibility  or  irritability — it  is  the 
temperament  of  genius  and  intellect — Julius  Caesar,  Mahomet, 
Ronpeau,  Napoleon,  etc."  Again,  "  He  does  not  think  that 
the  demoniacs  in  Scripture  were  epileptic  persons." 


152  PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES. 

Flodoardo  Howard  graduated  in  medicine  at  the  age  of 
thirty,  after  having  conducted  the  business  of  pharmacy  for  a 
number  of  years.  He  was  a  ploddiug  man,  but  acquired  a 
large  practice  and  accumulated  a  considerable  fortune,  which 
he  afterward  wasted  in  amateur  farming  and  unfortunate 
investments.  Without  the  advantages  of  a  high  preliminary 
education,  not  more  than  the  average  man  in  mental  capacity, 
he  was  an  example  of  what  may  be  accomplished  in  the  pro- 
fession of  medicine  by  attention  to  business,  rigid  observance 
of  the  proprieties  of  life,  and  a  consistent  Christian  life. 
He  held  his  patients  by  the  force  of  duty  well  and  conscien- 
tiously done,  and  by  his  known  uprightness  and  purity  of 
character. 

Dr.  Howard  was  one  of  four  who  organized  the  Medical 
Department  of  Georgetown  College,  and  held  the  professorship 
of  obstetrics  and  diseases  of  women  until  the  reorganization 
of  the  faculty  in  1876.  He  taught  obstetrics  as  he  practised 
it,  relying  upon  his  experience  and  careful  study  of  a  few 
chosen  authorities. 

He  was  a  simple,  unostentatious  man,  free  from  prejudice, 
with  a  kind  word  for  everybody,  confiding  in  friendship,  and 
firm  in  the  Christian  faith  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church. 

His  life-long  and  devoted  friend  and  companion,  Noble 
Young,  nicknamed  him  "  Flodledardledo,"  and  generally,  in 
his  pleasant  way,  referred  to  him  by  that  name. 

Richmond  Johnson  was  born  in  Annapolis,  Maryland,  in 
1791.  He  was  a  "grand-nephew  of  Thomas  Johnson,  the 
first  Governor  of  Maryland,  the  members  of  whose  family 
distinguished  themselves  in  the  War  of  the  Revolution  and 
were  the  trusted  friends  of  General  Washington." 

He  studied  medicine  in  this  city  in  the  private  office  of 
the  elder  May,  and  during  the  War  of  1812  he  entered  the 
navy  as  surgeon,  which  he  resigned  after  the  declaration  of 
peace,  and  commenced  the  practice  of  his  profession  in  this 
city.  In  answer  to  my  inquiries  a  near  descendant  writes  me 
as  follows  : 


PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES.  I53 

I  cannot  say  when  or  where  he  graduated ;  I  only  know  that  he  was 
a  student  of  Dr.  May.  In  those  early  days  of  Washington  that  was 
considered  a  sufficient  distinction.  .  .  .  He  was  very  successful, 
particularly  in  the  diseases  of  women  and  children.  He  was  singu- 
larly bright  and  cheerful  in  dispor^ition,  full  of  innocent  mirth,  with 
a  keen  sense  of  the  humorous,  to  which  were  added  wonderful  powers 
of  mimicry,  with  which  he  would  sometimes  amuse  his  patients  and 
bring  a  smile  to  the  face  of  the  despondent.  He  was  the  soul  of 
honor,  and  regarded  the  profession  of  medicine  as  ranking  all  others, 
except  the  clerical,  in  its  sacred  responsibilities  and  ministrations  to 
the  sick  and  erring.  He  was  a  sincere  Christian,  and  exemplified  the 
precepts  of  religion  in  his  daily  life  and  conversation.  He  considered 
the  physician  as  an  instrument  in  the  hand  of  the  Almighty,  who 
alone  could  give  success  to  all  human  efforts;  therefore,  he  never 
relinquished  hope  of  recovery  until  almost  at  the  point  of  dissolution. 
He  was  very  benevolent,  and  much  loved  by  the  poor. 

During  the  epidemic  of  cholera  in  this  city  in  1832  he  was 
indefatio-able  and  untirino;  in  his  devotion  to  the  sick  and 
suffering,  giving  freely  to  the  poor — medicine  and  food. 

He  was  appointed  by  his  friend,  Surgeon-General  Lovell, 
his  chief  clerk,  which  office  he  held  for  many  years. 

Dr.  Johnson  died  at  the  advanced  age  of  eighty-four,  leav- 
ing to  his  children  the  "  heritage  of  an  unsullied  reputation." 

Charles  H.  Liebermann  was  a  Russian.  He  graduated  at 
Dorpat  in  1836  and  at  Berlin  in  1838.  The  story  of  his 
escape  from  prison  has  been  so  fully  aud  graphically  told  by 
AV.  W.  Johnston  {Transactions  of  the  Seventy -ffth  Anniver- 
sary Celebration,  Medical  Society  of  the  District  of  Columbia) 
that  it  is  not  necessary  to  repeat  it  here,  and  the  high  stand- 
ard of  his  preliminary  and  professional  education  was  so 
thoroughly  established  by  the  report  of  the  Standing  Com- 
mittee of  the  Medical  Association  of  the  District  of  Columbia 
(pp.  106-7)  that  it  would  be  supererogation  to  atteuipt  to 
make  any  more  conclusive  statement.  His  scholarly  erudition 
aud  attainments,  together  with  his  self-reliance,  impressed  the 
sick  with  the  utmost  confidence  in  his  ability,  to  which  his 
astuteness  in  diagnosis  added  such  assurance  that  very  many 
people,  professional  and  laymen,  accepted  his  judgment  as 


154  PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES. 

oracular.  His  directions  were  given  with  such  impressive 
detail  that  few  dared  to  disobey  him,  and  when  dealing  with 
a  refractory  patient  his  remonstrance  was  not  always  couched 
in  the  choicest  language.  Quickness  of  perception,  prompt- 
ness in  decision,  fertility  of  resource,  and  firmness  of  judg- 
ment were  so  harmoniously,  though  not  offensively,  blended 
in  him  that  his  conclusions  acquired  such  force  that  but  few 
were  willing  to  take  issue  with  him.  He  placed  a  value  upon 
his  services,  and  demanded  the  compensation.  "Dead-heads" 
and  "  dead-beats,"  of  which  this  city  has  always  had  more 
than  its  share,  were  held  in  loathsome  contempt,  and  no  cour- 
tier could  entice  him  into  the  service  of  such  wretched  char- 
acters ;  but  he  was  none  the  less  generous  to  the  honest 
and  deserving  poor.  He  feigned  nothing,  but  was  always 
straightforward  and  direct ;  in  fact,  so  much  so  at  times  as  to 
acquire  the  reputation  of  crossness. 

Dr.  Liebermann  would  never  attend  families  residing  in  the 
immediate  vicinity  of  his  own  residence,  because  they  were 
too  troublesome  and  would  send  for  him  too  often  ;  nor  would 
he  render  a  service  or  repeat  a  visit  during  the  day  unless  he 
thought  it  necessary.  Visits  or  services  to  gratify  querulous 
anxieties  were  repugnant  to  his  conception  of  dignity  and 
propriety.  He  taught  the  important  lesson  that  physicians 
having  patients  dwelling  in  hotels  should  instruct  them  to 
send  their  messages  in  sealed  envelopes,  and  that  money  in 
payment  of  such  services  should  be  likewise  enclosed  in  letters, 
rather  than  trusted  to  individuals.  He  never  acquired  the 
habit  of  using  "  cuss  w^ords "  either  in  the  vernacular  or 
acquired  tongue,  but  would  occasionally  emphasize  a  thought 
or  expression  with  "  tam  it." 

Dr.  Liebermann  was  a  ready,  fluent,  and  forcible  debater, 
and  took  an  active  part  in  the  discussions  of  the  Medical  So- 
ciety, oftentimes  to  excite  discussion  raising  issues  and  pre- 
senting views  w^iich  he  did  not  himself  hold.  His  study  of 
human  nature  was  practical,  and  he  applied  such  knowledge 
as  well  to  the  transactions  of  daily  life  as  to  his  professional 


PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES.  155 

duties.     When  he  retired  from  the  practice  of  medicine,  be- 
cause of  physical  infirmities,  it  was  absolute  and  positive. 

Harvey  Liudsly  was  a  noted  example  of  that  small  class  of 
medical  men  who  can  confine  themselves  to  their  own  business, 
and  avoid  all  alliances  and  complications  which  disturb  the 
equanimity  and  peace  of  one's  own  life.  If  he  had  reason  to 
suspect  misapprehension  and  misunderstanding,  I  have  his 
own  words  for  the  statement,  that  a  few  minutes'  conference 
with  the  person  Avould  satisfactorily  settle  the  difference  and 
adjust  the  grievance.  He  adhered  throughout  a  long  life 
with  scrupulous  fidelity  to  the  unobtrusive  rules  and  regula- 
tions which  he  prescribed  for  the  government  of  his  own  con- 
duct, and  with  equal  tenacity  to  the  ethical  methods  accepted 
as  the  standard  of  professional  honor. 

Many  years  ago,  during  the  period  of  discontent,  the  Stand- 
ing Committee  of  the  Medical  Association  of  the  District  of 
Columbia,  which  had  been  instructed  to  investigate  the  prev- 
alent insinuations  and  charges  of  violations  of  ethical  methods 
and  proprieties,  concluded  its  report  with  a  resolution  recom- 
mending the  members  to  "  bury  all  past  grievances  in  oblivion, 
and  for  the  future  to  observe  the  Golden  Rule."  Dr.  Lindsly 
moved  to  strike  out  the  words  "Golden  Rule"  and  insert 
"  Rules  and  By-laws  of  this  Association,"  which  was  carried. 
Perhaps  no  incident  of  his  life  more  fully  and  succinctly  sets 
forth  the  most  marked  trait  of  his  character — to  grasp  the 
substance  instead  of  the  theory-of  duty.  The  Code  of  Ethics 
was  unequivocal ;  the  "  Golden  Rule  "  would  be  interpreted 
by  each  man's  criterion.  If  he  had  left  no  other  memorial  of 
his  unoffending  purity  of  character  and  purpose,  his  memory 
should  be  held  in  the  highest  esteem  by  all  lovers  and  follow- 
ers of  a  high  standard  of  personal  and  professional  honor  and 
decorum.  I  have  in  another  chapter  (p.  110)  given  the 
details  of  his  election  to  the  Presidency  of  the  American 
Medical  Association,  which  was  the  tribute  of  that  body  of 
representative  men  to  those  dominant  characteristics  of  his 
personality. 


156  PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES. 

lu  1858,  in  his  address  of  welcome  to  the  American  Med- 
ical Association,  then  assembled  in  this  city,  after  giving 
expression  to  his  regret  that  the  city  was  so  barren  of  all  that 
would  interest  the'  votaries  of  medical  science,  he  added,  in 
words  that  read  like  the  inspiration  of  prophecy,  "The  day 
is  not  far  distant  when,  by  the  liberality  of  a  great  people, 
our  public  buildings,  our  literary  and  scientific  institutions, 
our  national  parks  and  botanic  gardens  will  be  worthy  of  the 
grand  metropolis  of  a  nation  which,  perhaps,  within  the  next 
half-century  will  be  the  most  populous,  powerful,  and  wealthy 
in  Christendom."  He  lived  long  enough  afterward  (1889)  to 
realize  the  fulness  of  his  prophecy. 

After  his  retirement  from  active  work  he  lived  in  the  com- 
fort, peace,  and  quiet  of  a  dignified  gentleman  and  devoted 
Christian. 

As  a  matter  of  historical  interest  I  append  the  following 
correspondence,  the  original  being  on  file  in  the  archives  of 
the  Society.     Dr.  Lindsly  died  April  28,  1889. 

Washington,  D.  C,  January  5,  18S9. 
Dr.  Wythe  Cook, 

Secretary  3Ieclical  Society,  District  of  Columbia  : 

Dear  Sir  :  As  the  oldest  member  of  the  Medical  Society  of  the 

District  of  Columbia,  I  take  the  liberty  of  addressing  you,  to  say  that 

I  regret  my  inability  to  attend  the  next  annual  meeting,  being  unable 

to  go  out  in  the  evening,  and  to  express  my  kindly  feelings  to  all  the 

members  of  the  Society,  wishing  them  all  a  happy  New  Year,  health 

and  prosperity,  and  abundant  success  in  ekvating  the  dignity  and 

increasing  the  usefulness  of  our  noble  profession.     I  believe  I  am 

not  only  the  eldest  member  of  our  Society  now  living  (85  on  the  11th 

of  January,  '89),  but  also  the  oldest  member  who  has  ever  belonged 

to  it.  Most  cordially, 

H.   LiXDSLY. 

Washington,  D.  C,  January  16,  1889. 
Dear  Doctor  :  More  than  ten  years  ago  it  was  my  privilege  to 
transmit  certain  resolutions  of  the  Medical  Society  of  the  District  of 
Columbia,  congratulating  you  on  the  occasion  of  the  anniversary  of 
your  half-century  identification  with  the  medical  profession.  On  the 
7th  instant,  at  the  stated  meeting  of  the  Medical  Society,  your  letter 


PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES.  157 

to  Dr.  Cook,  Corresponding  Secretary,  was  read  and  cordially  received, 
and  it  is  my  pleasure  to  extend  to  you  the  hearty  congratulations  of 
your  professional  brethren  in  the  Society  on  the  attainment  of  your 
eighty-fifth  birthday,  with  your  sixty-one  years  in  the  practice  of 
medicine,  and  to  express  their  kindest  wishes  that  good  health  and 
happiness  may  be  vouchsafed  you  for  many  years  to  come. 
Very  sincerely, 

Thomas  C.  Smith,  M.D., 

Corresponding  Secretary. 
Dr.  Harvey  Lixdsly. 

Hezekiah  Magruder  was  the  youngest  of  these  decedents. 
He  was  born  in  Montgomery  County,  Maryland,  not  far 
from  where  I  was  born,  and  previous  to  the  removal  of  his 
father  to  Georgetown  the  two  families  had  been  neighbors. 
When  I  commenced  the  study  of  medicine  with  him  in  May, 
1845,  he  was  very  actively  and  continuously  employed  during 
the  day  and  frequently  until  late  at  night,  always  taking  his 
meals  hurriedly  and  irregularly.  He  did  not  keep  any  office 
hours,  and  returned  to  his  office  at  such  irregular  intervals 
during  the  day  that  it  was  impossible  to  tell  when  or  where 
he  could  be  found  at  any  fixed  hour. 

At  that  date  no  physician  in  Georgetown  kept  office  hours. 
Patients  and  other  persons  wishing  to  consult  one  waited  at 
irregular  times  for  indefinite  periods,  or  went  away  and  came 
back,  or  followed  in  pursuit  in  the  direction  last  seen,  and 
sometimes  waited  at  houses  to  which  it  was  known  the  doctor 
would  come.  It  occurred  very  frequently  in  cases  of  emer- 
gency that  several  messengers  would  be  in  the  street  at  the 
same  time  in  active  search  for  their  or  any  doctor  they  could 
find.  All  had  fixed  hours  for  meals,  but  no  one  had  fixed 
time  to  be  at  meals.  The  only  certain  time  at  Avliich  one 
could  be  found  was  when  in  bed  and  had  not  instructed  the 
servant  to  deny  the  fact. 

The  same  lack  of  system  was  very  common  in  this  city, 
even  after  I  came  here.  Some  of  the  most  conspicuous  phy- 
sicians announced  a  prescribed  hour  when  they  would  be  in 
their  offices,  but  it  was  not  kept  with  any  uniform  regularity) . 


158  PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES. 

Office  business  was  not  solicited  except  by  two  or  three.  In 
fact,  I  think  John  F.  May  was  the  only  physician  who  did 
keep  a  fixed  office  hour  with  such  regularity  that  any  one  felt 
assured  he  could  be  found  there  at  the  time  prescribed.  Many 
of  them  designated  places  in  different  neighborhoods — usually 
drug-stores — at  which  messages  could  be  left. 

Dr.  Magruder  was  one  of  six  practitioners  residing  in 
Georgetown  at  that  time.  Their  business  was  not  confined 
to  the  town,  but  extended  into  the  surrounding  country  and 
into  the  western  part  of  this  city.  The  four  senior  men 
seemed  to  be  about  equal  in  professional  popularity.  The 
last  of  the  six,  Joshua  Ritchie,  died  November  2,  1887. 
There  were  six  medical  students,  of  whom  four  are  dead.  Dr. 
Flandreau,  of  Rome,  New  York,  and  myself  are  the  only 
survivors  of  the  twelve  persons  who  were  engaged  in  the 
practice  and  study  of  medicine  in  Georgetown  in  1845.  In 
this  connection  it  may  be  added  that  among  the  dead  of  my 
early  associates  and  companions  are  included  every  member  of 
the  faculty  whose  names  are  signed  to  my  diploma,  every 
member  of  the  hospital  staff  whom  I  followed  in  the  wards 
of  the  Pennsylvania  Hospital,  every  member  of  the  Medical 
Society  of  the  District  of  Columbia,  except  one,  when  I  was 
admitted  on  the  first  Monday  of  January,  1849,  and  every 
member  of  the  Faculty  of  the  Medical  Department  of  George- 
town College  when  I  resigned  the  Professorship  of  Materia 
Medica,  in  1855. 

John  Frederick  May  was  a  very  distinguished  physician, 
both  as  a  surgeon  and  a  general  practitioner.  He  was,  per- 
haps, the  first  resident  physician  whose  reputation  extended 
beyond  the  "  Ten  Miles  Square,"  and  brought  to  him  impor- 
tant cases  for  treatment.  No  man  before  or  during  the  active 
period  of  his  professional  life  accomplished  as  much,  and  none 
since  more  to  elevate  the  standing  of  the  profession  in  this 
District  than  he.  He  educated  the  community  up  to  the 
highest  appreciation  of  medical  science  and  competent  medical 
service,  and  asserted  himself  on  all  occasions  when  necessary 


PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES.  159 

to  uphold  the  dignity  and  vahic  of  skilled  professional  attend- 
ance. With  the  self-reliance  of  a  man  of  knowledge  he  im- 
pressed everyone  with  the  correctness  of  his  opinion  and 
soundness  of  his  judgment,  and  commanded  his  respect  by 
unequivocal  expression  and  direct  conduct.  As  he  appeared 
to  be,  so  he  was  and  so  he  declared  himself,  leaving  adjust- 
ment of  discrepancies  and  concession  to  others  less  confident 
and  tenacious  of  their  own  judgment.  He  was  as  resolute  as 
he  was  firm,  and  did  not  permit  doubt  to  impair  his  respon- 
sibility or  lessen  the  obligation  of  duty.  Born  to  lead,  he 
did  not  seek  leadership  except  by  example,  but  such  example 
was  the  natural  force  of  his  will,  not  the  imitation  of  acquire- 
ment, 

Adolphus  Patze  was  a  Prussian.  He  graduated  from  the 
University  of  Berlin  in  1838,  and  was,  presumably,  a  well- 
educated  physician.  He  was  admitted  to  the  Medical  Society 
of  the  District  of  Columbia  in  1864.  Of  his  previous  history 
nothing  is  known.  He  died  in  1886  at  the  Soldiers'  Home 
at  Hampton,  Virginia,  where  he  had  been  compelled  to  seek 
shelter  because  of  ill-health  and  inability  to  take  care  of  him- 
self. During  his  residence  in  this  city  he  earned  a  very  pre- 
carious and  meagre  livelihood.  He  was  unprepossessing  in 
dress  and  personal  appearance,  reticent,  seclusive,  and  appa- 
rently happy  with  his  condition  of  life. 

Joshua  Riley  practiced  medicine  for  fifty-one  years  in  the 
neighboring  city  of  Georgetown,  and  died  beloved  in  the  com- 
munity in  which  he  had  resided  during  his  manhood  life.  He 
had  a  good  word  and  pleasant  salutation  for  everybody,  and 
as  a  man  and  citizen  was  as  popular  with  the  community  at 
large  as  he  was  beloved  by  those  whom  he  had  attached  to 
himself  by  his  assiduous  attention  and  unremitting  kindness 
during  sickness.  He  was  another  example  of  that  class  of 
men  who  could  avoid  unpleasant  complications,  and  yet  hold 
and  give  expression  to  decided  conviction  and  conclusions. 
He  was  a  man  of  marked  personal  appearance,  tall,  slim, 
gaunt,  awkward  in  manner,  with  a  quick,  emphatic  style  of 


160  PEBSOXAL  REMINISCENCES. 

speech,  and  a  vocabulary  of  multisyllabic  words  which  gave 
him  a  personality  so  impressive  as  uever  to  be  overlooked  or 
forgotten  by  even  the  most  casual  acquaintance.  In  response 
to  an  inquiry  concerning  a  patient,  his  reply  was  usually 
clothed  in  so  many  polysyllabic  w^ords,  not  infrequently  inter- 
spersed with  technicalities,  that  the  listener  would  be  so  con- 
fused with  the  mysteries  of  scientific  lore  that  he  would  accept 
the  explanation  rather  than  provoke  another  volley.  Another 
peculiarity  consisted  in  the  immediate  duplication  of  the  re- 
sponse in  the  precise  and  emphatic  words,  concluding  each 
utterance  wdth  a  broadly  accentuated  "  sir ; "  as,  for  instance, 
''  Yes,  sir'r ;  yes,  sir'r.  Phlegmasia  alba  dolens,  sir'r  ;  yes,  sir. 
Phlegmasia  alba  dolens,  sir'r."  These  peculiarities  did  not 
affect  his  high  professional  standing  or  lessen  the  confidence 
of  the  laity.  They  were  universally  accepted  as  amusing 
habits  of  speech,  which  afforded  to  many,  the  diversion  of 
imitation. 

Dr.  Kiley  was  very  methodical  in  his  habits  and  business, 
punctilious  in  the  observance  of  the  amenities  of  life,  and 
scrupulously  circumspect  in  his  intercourse  with  professional 
men.  He  had  no  enemies  to  punish,  no  grievances  to  adjust, 
nor  animosities  to  appease.  He  taught  physicians  how  to 
collect  accounts  for  services  from  a  certain  class  of  delinquent 
clients  by  taking  their  notes  for  the  amount,  and  renewing 
them  annually  thereafter  with  the  addition  of  the  amount 
accrued  until  it  was  paid  either  by  the  drawer  or  his  estate. 
This  was  a  very  simple  and  effective  method  of  settlement  in 
that  class  of  cases,  and  avoided  litigation,  which  usually  means 
for  the  doctor  waste  of  time  and  loss  of  money. 

For  many  years  he  occupied  the  Professorship  of  Materia 
Medica  and  Therapeutics  in  the  Columbian  Unversity.  He 
did  not,  previous  to  his  last  illness,  relinquish  either  the  prac- 
tice or  the  study  of  his  profession,  but  in  his  later  years  lost 
confidence  to  a  very  considerable  degree  in  the  efficacy  of 
drugs. 

Joshua  Ritchie  was  born  and  died  in  Georgetown.     His 


PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES.  161 

life  was  so  quiet  and  unobtrusive  that  lie  was  but  little  known 
outside  of  the  immediate  circle  of  his  friends  and  acquaint- 
ances. After  having  devoted  the  vigor  of  his  life  to  his  pro- 
fession and  accumulated  a  modest  competency,  he  engaged 
very  actively  in  speculation  in  real  estate,  which  terminated 
in  unexpected  disaster,  quickly  followed  by  physical  disabil- 
ity which  unfitted  him  for  any  employment.  His  career  was 
another  illustration  of  a  physician  without,  as  is  usual,  busi- 
ness capacity  and  experience,  and  after  the  prime  of  life  en- 
gaging in  some  purely  mercantile  occupation  with  ultimate 
financial  ruin. 

Grafton  Tyler  settled  in  Georgetown  after  some  years  of 
very  active  practice  in  Maryland,  and  soon  acquired  a  lucra- 
tive business.  He  was  a  man  of  attractive  presence  and 
manner,  of  undoubted  ability  and  superior  qualifications,  with 
great  fluency  of  language,  a  ready  and  forcible  debater,  and 
took  great  pleasure  in  exhibiting  his  forensic  power ;  but  he 
never  attained  the  eminence  to  which  his  capacity  entitled 
him.  He  was  singularly  characterized  by  the  habit  of  mag- 
nifying the  gravity  of  cases  of  sickness  and  of  exaggerating 
his  experience,  so  that  it  became  a  by-word  with  some  physi- 
cians and  the  subject  of  discourteous  comment  by  laymen. 
How  much  this  disposition  may  have  affected  the  reputation 
of  a  man  of  such  high  professional  attainment  can  only  be 
surmised. 

Dr.  Tyler  succeeded  Harvey  Lindsly  in  the  Chair  of  Theory 
and  Practice  of  Medicine  in  the  Columbian  University,  and 
was  a  very  popular  and  effective  teacher.  The  field  of  his 
opportunities  was  too  limited  for  one  so  gifted.  There  was, 
however,  one  marked  defect  in  his  delivery — too  frequent 
and  long  pauses  between  sentences,  which  interrupted  the 
connection  and  lessened  the  impressiveness  of  the  discourse. 
It  seemed  to  be  an  acquired  mannerism. 

During  his  long  life  Dr.  Tyler  enjoyed  many  honors  of 
high  professional  distinction,  and  Avas  the  intimate  friend  and 
companion  of  distinguished  statesmen,  jurists,  and  scholars. 

11 


162  PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES. 

Samuel  Ellicott  Tyson  was  a  grandson  of  Elisha  Tyson, 
the  philanthropist.  He  studied  medicine  with  Dr.  William 
Handy,  of  Baltimore,  and  after  graduation  entered  a  hospital 
in  Philadelphia,  that  he  might  more  thoroughly  qualify  him- 
self for  the  conscientious  discharge  of  the  duties  of  a  com- 
petent physician.  He  pursued  the  profession  of  medicine 
from  a  sense  of  duty,  and  not  for  pecuniary  profit. 

His  chief  characteristics  were  punctuality,  deliberation, 
truth,  and  the  punctilious  fulfilment  of  every  promise.  He 
was  a  sincere  and  devout  Christian  and  a  consistent  member 
of  the  Society  of  Friends. 

Delicate  health  compelled  him  to  relinquish  the  practice  of 
medicine,  and  he  engaged  in  the  business  of  pharmacy.  He 
died  at  the  age  of  seventy-four,  leaving  a  name  and  character 
without  blemish. 

i^oble  Young  was  a  man  of  note  and  distinction  in  this 
community.  During  his  entire  manhood  life  he  devoted 
himself  to  his  profession,  and  when  he  had  grown  too  old  in 
years  to  bear  longer  the  burden  of  its  toil  and  anxieties  he 
retired  to  live  out  his  life  in  the  peace  and  quiet  of  home  and 
family. 

No  thought  of  extraneous  methods  of  money-making  occu- 
pied his  mind.  He  was  content  with  the  slow  accretions  of 
the  surplus  earnings  from  his  profession.  He  had  dedicated 
his  life  to  medicine,  and  nothing  diverted  him  from  the  dili- 
gent pursuit  of  his  chosen  avocation. 

Dr.  Young  belonged  to  the  class  of  positive,  dominant 
men,  with  likes,  dislikes,  and  convictions,  courage  to  assert 
himself,  and  ability  to  maintain  his  opinions.  He  was  as 
firm  and  steadfast  in  friendship  as  he  was  determined  in 
dislikes,  always  calm  and  deliberate,  as  devoid  of  emotional 
demonstration  as  he  was  imperturbable  in  antipathies.  He 
never  professed  love  when  he  did  not  have  it,  nor  concealed 
aversions  when  he  had  them.  He  had  no  compromise  to 
make  with  his  conscientious  convictions  of  duty,  nor  concilia- 
tions to  cover  deceit  and  avert  disapprobation.     His  antago- 


PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES.  163 

nisms  M'ere  not  quarrelsome  wrangles,  but  judicial  conclusions 
asserted  after  mature  deliberation.  He  was  as  complacent  in 
defeat  as  he  was  self-possessed  in  triumph.  With  such  a 
sharply  marked  individuality  he  attached  friends  very  closely 
and  estranged  others  with  equally  incisive  lines,  but  there  was 
no  factious  following  or  opposition.  He  was  not  the  leader 
of  a  cabal  or  clique,  but  of  opinion,  and  appealed  to  reason 
rather  than  to  prejudice. 

In  ethical  disputes  and  contentions  he  was  decisive,  always 
distinctly  on  one  side  or  the  other,  sometimes  leading  the 
attack  or  defence,  or  following  some  other  with  equal  spirit  and 
determination.  He  neither  sought  nor  ran  away  from  a  con- 
tention, but  accepted  responsibility  as  the  measure  of  his 
duty. 

There  was,  however,  another  side  to  the  picture  of  his  life- 
history.  He  was  a  cultivated  and  polished  gentleman,  a  most 
genial  companion,  and  possessed  to  a  marvellous  degree  the 
quality  of  bonhomie,  which  was  as  attractive  as  it  was  infec- 
tious. With  a  natural  fondness  of  anecdotes,  and  gifted  with 
the  capacity  to  manufacture  jokes  at  pleasure,  with  which  he 
would  intersperse  conversation,  he  became  a  centre  of  attrac- 
tion at  all  convivial  gatherings,  where  the  freedom  of  speech 
is  liberated  from  the  staid  dignity  and  reserve  of  the  exclusive 
drawing-room.  On  such  occasions  he  did  not  inquire  who  were 
his  friends  or  who  his  enemies,  but  was  alike  courteous  and 
genial  to  all. 

Dr.  Young  was  one  of  the  four  who  organized  the  Medical 
Department  of  Georgetown  College,  occupied  the  Chair  of 
Theory  and  Practice  of  Medicine,  and  was  President  of  the 
Faculty  from  its  organization  until  1876,  when  he,  with 
others,  retired  from  the  faculty.  His  profound  and  sensitive 
devotion  to  the  interest  of  that  institution  drew  him  into  some 
unfortunate  antagonisms,  and  sharpened  the  lines  of  estrange- 
ment with  former  companions  whom  he  held  in  the  highest 
esteem. 

He  was   my  earliest  and  life-long  friend.     I  revere  his 


1 64  PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES. 

memory,  and  take  pleasure  in  making  the  acknowledgment  of 
my  obligations  to  him.  I  was  twice  associated  with  him  in 
the  college,  and  succeeded  him  in  the  chair  which  he  so  long 
honored. 

The  foregoing  sketches  of  the  venerable  decedents  have 
been  for  the  most  part  drawn  from  my  personal  knowl- 
edge of  the  men.  In  the  delineations  of  peculiarities  aud 
eccentricities  I  have  adhered  closely  to  facts,  without  any 
attempt  to  embellish  or  exaggerate  the  merits  or  defects  of 
character.  So  far  as  is  known  to  me  they  were  all  honorable 
men.  It  has  not  been  my  purpose  to  write  a  history  of  each 
one,  but  simply  to  record  the  salient  characteristics  of  each 
individual,  and  to  set  forth  most  conspicuously  the  traits  aud 
qualifications  which  distinguished  them  as  members  of  the 
profession  of  medicine.  Their  lives  have  left  no  disgrace  to 
tarnish  the  reputation  of  the  Medical  Society  of  the  District 
of  Columbia,  and  those  of  their  successors  living  to-day,  and 
those  to  come  hereafter,  may  recall  their  histories  with  honor 
aud  pride. 

I  knew  Joseph  Walsh  to  speak  to  him  when  we  met,  and 
have  endeavored,  without  success,  to  obtain  from  his  friends 
now  living  a  brief  sketch  of  his  personal  character,  so  as  to 
enable  me  to  describe  his  individuality. 

Through  the  politeness  of  the  Corresponding  Secretary  I 
am  permitted  to  append  the  following  very  interesting  cor- 
respondence. The  circumstance  is  of  such  unusual  occurrence 
in  the  history  of  a  medical  society,  aud  so  deserving  of  such 
record  as  will  make  it  accessible  to  the  members  and  others, 
that  I  need  offer  no  excuse  for  its  insertion  here  in  direct 
connection  with  the  gentlemen  named.  It  is  to  be  regretted 
that  the  replies  of  Drs.  Young  and  Borrows  do  not  appear 
upon  the  records  of  the  Society. 

At  the  date  of  this  correspondence  John  B.  Blake  was  the 
oldest  man,  and  had  been  a  member  of  the  Society  for  fifty- 
five  years,  a  longer  period  than  any  member  living  at  that 
time.     I  presume  he  was  omitted   from  the  congratulatory 


PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES.  165 

resolutions  because  of  his  early  retirement  from  the  pursuits 
of  his  profession. 

Washington,  March  22,  1878. 

Dear  Doctor  :  I  have  the  honor  and  pleasure  of  transmitting  to 
you  the  following  resolutions  adopted  by  the  Medical  Society  at  the 
meeting  held  on  the  20th  instant : 

Wiereas,  Harvey  Lindsly,  M.D.,  James  C.  Hall,  M.D.,  Joseph  Bor- 
rows, M.D.,  and  Noble  Young,  M.D.,  members  of  this  Society,  whose 
names  appear  in  the  Act  of  Incorporation  reviving  the  charter  of  the 
Society,  have  now  passed  through  fifty  years  of  continuous  practice 
of  medicine  in  this  District ;  and, 

^^^lereas,  These  gentlemen  have,  during  the  whole  of  this  long 
period,  retained  the  respect  and  esteem  of  their  brethren  in  the  pro- 
fession and  of  the  community  at  large,  inspiring  with  each  revolving 
year  increasing  confidence ;  therefore, 

Resolved,  That  this  Society  takes  pleasure  in  calling  the  attention 
of  its  members  to  such  notable  examples  of  a  career  passed  in  the 
honorable  and  conscientious  performance  of  the  duties  of  life. 

Resolved,  That  the  Society  congratulates  the  above-mentioned  gen- 
tlemen upon  this  completion  of  half  a  century  of  usefulness  in  the 
profession,  and  upon  the  honors  and  prosperity  to  which  they  have 
so  deservedly  attained. 

Resolved,  Also,  that  the  Society  trusts  that  there  may  be  in  reserve 
for  them  many  more  years  of  hapi)iness  and  usefulness,  and  that 
when,  in  the  fulness  of  time,  the  last  claim  of  nature  shall  be  made, 
they  may  each  a^jproach  "the  inevitable  hour" 

"  Like  one  who  wraps  the  draj^ery  of  his  couch 
About  him,  and  lies  down  to  pleasant  dreams." 

The  following  resolution  was  also  adopted  : 

Resolved,  That  the  eminent  gentlemen  named  in  the  resolutions  just 
adopted  be  requested,  at  their  earliest  convenience,  to  reduce  to  form 
and  convey  by  letter  their  reminiscences  and  observations  on  inter- 
esting facts  in  medicine,  and  notable  persons  and  occurrences  that 
may  have  interested  them  as  practising  physicians  at  the  capital  of 
our  country,  to  be  i^reserved  as  a  legacy  by  the  Society 
Very  respectfully, 

Your  obedient  servant, 

Thomas  C.  Smith,  M.D., 

Corresponding  Secretary. 
Dr.  Harvey  Lindsly, 

Washington,  D.  C. 


166  PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES. 

Washington,  D.  C,  March  25,  1878. 

Dear  Doctor  :  I  desire  to  return  my  most  Igrateful  acknowledg- 
ments to  the  Medical  Society  for  the  A'-ery  kind  and  complimentary 
resolutions  passed  at  their  late  meeting,  a  coi^y  of  which  I  received 
through  you  as  their  Secretary. 

The  approbation  and  esteem  of  his  professional  brethren  I  consider 
the  highest  compliment  to  his  character  and  conduct  a  physician  can 
possibly  receive,  because  they  are  the  best  judges  both  of  his  merits 
and  his  deficiencies.  It  has  been  my  earnest  aim  through  my  long 
professional  service  to  deserve  this  appreciation  of  the  profession.  I 
have  never  knowingly  violated  any  rule  of  medical  etiquette  or  done 
or  said  aught  to  injure  a  brother.  In  retiring,  therefore,  from  active 
practice,  I  have  the  great  satisfaction  of  being  able  to  say  I  have 
none  but  the  kindest  feelings  of  friendship  and  respect  for  every 
member  of  the  Society.  In  conclusion,  allow  me  to  express  the  hope 
that  the  harmony  which,  as  a  general  rule,  has  always  existed  among 
us  may  in  the  future  be  extended  and  perpetuated. 

Most  truly  yours, 

Harvey  Lijtdsly. 

Dr.  Thomas  C.  Smith, 

Corresponding  Secretary. 

Thomas  C.  Smith,  M.D., 

Corresponding  Secretary,  Medical  Society  : 
Dear  Doctor  :  I  perform  a  grateful  duty  in  acknowledging  the 
receipt  of  the  resolutions  of  the  Medical  Society  of  the  20th  instant, 
in  which  it  expresses  its  approbation  of  my  professional  life,  now 
extended  over  fifty-one  years,  its  congratulations  on  its  success,  and 
its  kind  wishes  for  my  fiiture  welfare  and  happiness. 

To  merit,  receive,  and  retain  the  resjiect  and  esteem  of  my  brethren 
and  compeers  gratifies  my  highest  ambition,  and  is  an  honor  greater 
than  any  popular  applause,  and  purer  than  any  material  success. 

It  gives  me  great  pleasure  to  remember  that  I  have  ever  had  the 
most  friendly  and  pleasant  relations  with  my  fellow-practitioners,  and 
that  no  personal  difference  ever  interrupted  our  professional  inter- 
course. 

Thanking  the  Medical  Society  for  the  honor  and  kindness  of  its 
action,  and  wishing  each  and  every  one  of  its  members  health,  hap- 
piness, and  prosperity, 

I  have  the  honor  to  be. 

Most  respectfully, 

Its  obedient  servant, 

J.  C.  Hall,  M.D. 
Washington,  March  22,  1878. 


CHAPTER   X. 

Incorporators  Named  in  Act  of  Revival  of  Charter  of  the  Medical  Society 
of  the  District  of  Columbia  in  1838.  Forfeiture  by  Failure  to  Elect 
Oflicers  at  Annual  Meeting.  Sketches  of  A.  McD.  Davis,  W.  B.  Ma- 
gruder,  Thomas  Miller,  and  X.  P.  Causin. 

At  some  one  of  the  aunual  meetings  in  1831,  1832,  or 
1833  the  Society  failed  to  elect  its  officers.  In  consequence 
of  this  default,  which  was  not  discovered  until  the  Society 
became  involved  in  a  suit,  the  court  declared  the  charter  void. 
As  soon  after  this  decision  as  circumstances  would  permit  the 
following-named  physicians  petitioned  Congress  for  a  revival 
of  the  charter,  which  was  granted  July  7,  1838. 


Keincorporators  in  1838. 

1 

SI'S 

on  ad- 
tteil  to 
S.  D.  C. 

^ 

'? 

1 

a 

■3 

■a 

■3 

c 

|as 

^ 

^ 

< 

^ 

< 

Frederick  May, 

1795 

1817 

Mass. 

1773 

Harvard 

1847 

74 

Alexander  McWilliams, 

1817 

Md. 

1775 

Univ.  Pa. 

1850 

75 

Henry  Huntt, 

1824 

1817 

Md. 

1782 

Univ.  Md. 

1838 

56 

William  Jones, 

1817 

Md. 

1790 

L.  M.  C.  F. 

1867 

77 

George  W.  May, 

i'sis 

1817 

Mass. 

1789 

Harvard 

1845 

56 

Peregrine  Warfield, 

1817 

Md. 

1779 

L.M.C.F. 

1856 

77 

Nich.  W.  Worthington, 

I'sVi 

1817 

Md. 

1789 

Univ.  Pa. 

1849 

60 

John  B.  Blake, 

1821 

1826 

Va. 

1800 

Univ.  Md. 

1881 

81 

Joseph  Borrows, 

1828 

1838 

D.C. 

1807 

Col.  Univ. 

1889 

82 

Nathaniel  P.  Causin, 

1805 

1838 

Md. 

1781 

Univ.  Pa. 

1849 

68 

Henry  F.  Condict, 

18.30 

1838 

N.J. 

1804 

Univ.  Pa. 

1893 

89 

Alexander  McD.  Davis, 

1828 

1838 

D.C. 

1807 

Col.  Univ. 

1872 

65 

James  S.  Gunnell, 

1820 

1824 

Va. 

1788 

Univ.  Pa. 

1852 

64 

James  C.  Hall, 

1838 

1827 

Va. 

1805 

Univ.  Pa. 

1880 

75 

Richmond  Johnson, 

1826 

1834 

Md. 
Md. 

1874 

83 

Benjamin  King,  U.S.A. 

Harvey  Lindsly, 

1828 

18S4 

N.J. 

1804  i 

Col  Univ. 

1888 

84 

William  B.  Magruder, 

1838 

Md. 

1809 

Univ.  Md. 

1869 

60 

Thomas  Miller, 

1829 

1835 

Va. 

1806 

Univ.  Pa. 

1873 

67 

Joshua  Riley, 

1824 

1827 

Md. 

1800 

Univ.  Md. 

1875 

75 

Thomas  Sewell, 

1812 

1830 

Mass. 

1786 

Harvard 

1845 

59 

Noble  Young, 

1828 

1838 

Md. 

1808 

Col.  Univ. 

1883 

75 

The  twenty-two  physicians  named  in  the  act  of  reincorpo- 
ration include  the  seven  surviving  founders  (the  seven  first 


168  PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES. 

named  in  the  preceding  tabulated  statement)  and  fifteen 
others,  five  of  whom  were  not  members  previous  to  that 
date.  The  number  of  founders  in  1819  was  twenty-one,  and 
of  the  reincorporators  in  1838,  twenty-two.  A  comparison 
of  the  ages  of  both  classes  exhibits  a  most  remarkable  lon- 
gevity of  each  class,  whereas  the  average  age  of  the  present 
membership  (February,  1894)  is  but  forty-three  and  one-half 
years. 

Of  these  incorporators  those  classified  as  founders  and  those 
as  members  who  lived  seventy  and  more  years  have  been 
referred  to  in  the  preceding  chapters.  Of  those'  not  included 
in  either  of  these  classifications  I  did  not  know  Gunnell, 
King,  or  Sewell.  The  others — Davis,  W.  B.  Magruder,  and 
Thomas  Miller — I  knew  very  well.  Davis  retired  early  from 
the  practice  of  medicine,  and  devoted  his  attention  exclusively 
to  social  life  and  local  politics. 

W.  B.  Magruder  was  a  man  of  considerable  natural  ability, 
but  a  recognized  professional  outlaw — that  is,  he  had  a  way 
of  his  own,  and  pursued  it  with  that  uniform  irregularity 
which  characterizes  men  who  reject  or  refuse  compliance  with 
the  usages  and  customs  of  the  occupation  or  profession  to 
which  they  profess  to  belong.  He  had  a  very  large  business, 
which  he  attended  to  or  not,  as  suited  his  convenience  or 
pleasure.  He  made  no  charges,  sent  no  bills,  and  could  only 
occasionally  be  induced  to  render  an  account,  and  then  only 
guessing  at  the  amount  when  some  very  indefatigable  debtor 
would  pursue  him  until  he  got  worried  with  the  persistent 
importunities.  He  lived  upon  the  principle  of  "give  and 
take."  When  any  one  gave  him  money  he  put  it  loosely  in 
his  pocket,  and  when  he  wanted  groceries  or  anything  else  he 
ordered  them  to  be  sent  to  him.  The  debit  side  of  the  trans- 
action did  not  concern  him.  He  had  a  very  large  following 
among  a  class  of  well-to-do  people,  many  of  whom  paid  him 
voluntarily,  according  to  their  estimate  of  the  value  of  his  ser- 
vices, and  many  others  filled  his  orders  for  very  much  more 
tiian  his  services  were  worth  to  them.      He  had  also  the 


PEESOXAL  EEMIXISCEXCES  1G9 

faculty  of  impressing  his  patients  with  the  belief  that  his 
services  were  far  more  valuable  to  them  than  any  other  phy- 
sician's could  be,  because  he  knew  their  constitutions  and  the 
precise  drugs  which  suited  their  peculiarities  and  idiosyncra- 
sies. I  am  sorry  to  add  that  this  faculty  was  not  the  exclusive 
possession  of  Dr.  Magruder,  but  has  beeu  the  shibboleth  of 
many  others  far  less  deserving.  Notwithstanding  this  loose 
and  very  irregular  manner  of  life,  he  was  greatly  beloved  by 
very  many  people,  and  popular  with  all  classes.  He  was  an 
active  local  politician,  served  for  many  years  as  Alderman 
and  one  term  as  Mayor  of  the  city. 

Thomas  ]Miller  was  endowed  with  great  force  of  character, 
which  well  fitted  him  for  the  leadership  to  which  he  aspired. 
This  quality  was  not  limited  to  the  narrow  field  of  profes- 
sional matters,  but  was  exhibited  sometimes  very  effectively 
iu  municipal  interests.  His  ardor  and  determination  were  not 
less  in  opposition  to  than  in  promotion  of  any  project  that  he 
might,  as  was  the  case,  either  approve  or  disapprove.  He 
was  not  a  brilliant  man,  but,  by  dint  of  an  indomitable  will, 
perseverance,  and  unflagging  energy,  he  made  himself  a  man 
among  men,  beloved  by  many,  feared  by  some,  and  respected 
by  all.  He  seized  and  held  on  to  the  cause  he  espoused  with 
such  vim  and  force  that  even  his  most  vindictive  antagonist 
commended  his  enthusiasm  and  persistence. 

Dr.  Miller  stood  upon  the  highest  plane  of  medical  ethics 
and  decorum,  and  held  to  the  most  rigid  observance  of  the 
formalities  of  ethical  rules  and  regulations,  sometimes  push- 
ing his  conception  of  their  requirements  of  duty  as  to  occa- 
sion very  decided  expressions  of  antagonism.  Whilst  such 
indiscreet  contentions  may  have  at  times  lessened  his  influ- 
ence with  the  profession,  they  were  not  without  good  results, 
in  that  they  impressed  men  with  the  importance  of  a  uniform 
observance  of  the  accepted  standard  of  professional  courtesies 
and  decorum. 

Dr.  Miller  always  claimed  to  have  made  himself  This 
was  true  so  far  as  related  to  his  professional  attainments  and 


170  PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES. 

standing,  but  was  not  true  socially,  for  he  was  born  in  high 
life,  and  was  well  educated  before  he  began  an  independent 
life. 

He  was  for  many  years  the  President  of  the  Board  of 
Health  ;  in  fact,  he  was  the  board,  giving  unremitting  atten- 
tion to  every  detail  and  enforcing  its  ordinances  with  fearless 
impartiality.  The  people  did  not  then  appreciate,  and  have 
not  since  properly  recognized  his  efforts  to  abate  nuisances 
and  to  eradicate  local  causes  of  disease.  To  him  is  due  the 
credit  of  abolition  of  the  primitiv^e  and  unsanitary  habits, 
practices,  and  customs  of  a  village  population,  for  his  un- 
tiring zeal  in  the  interest  of  sanitary  reform  drove  the  re- 
luctant municipal  authorities  to  enact  ordinances  which  clothed 
the  Board  of  Health  with  some  measure  of  authority  to  de- 
clare a  nuisance  and  power  to  abate  it. 

Dr.  Miller  originated  the  movement  to  establish  and  enforce 
a  system  of  registration  of  births  and  deaths  in  this  city.  In 
January,  1850,  he  offered  and  secured  the  adoption  of  the 
following  resolution  by  the  Medical  Society  : 

Resolved,  That  a  committee  of  three  be  appointed  to  inquire  into  the 
expediency  of  establishing  among  the  profession,  etc.,  some  system 
by  which  a  more  perfect  registration  of  births  and  deaths  may  be 
effected. 

Very  soon  after  this  action  of  the  Society  he  secured  the 
adoption,  by  the  Board  of  Health,  of  rules  and  regulations 
establishing  the  system  of  registration  which,  with  immaterial 
modifications,  have  been  in  force  to  date. 

Dr.  Miller  was  elected  President  of  the  Medical  Association 
of  the  District  of  Columbia  in  April,  1873.  He  died  in  Sep- 
tember following.  I  was  elected  Vice-President  at  the  same 
meeting,  but  declined  the  honor,  and  Dr.  Flodoardo  Howard 
was  elected  to  the  vacancy,  and  succeeded  Dr.  Miller  in  the 
Presidency. 

The  inaugural  address  of  Dr.  Miller,  delivered  in  April, 
1873,  is  so  full  of  interesting  historical  data  relating  to  the 


PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES.  171 

objects  and  organization  of  the  Association,  which  have  not 
been  published,  that  I  reproduce  it  here  in  l"ull. 

It  is  especially  interesting  in  the  statement  of  the  fact  that 
the  first  Surgeon-General  of  the  Array  was  the  founder  of  an 
organization  having  for  its  object  the  regulation  of  fees  for 
professional  services  and  the  establishment  of  a  code  of  ethics 
for  the  guidance  of  medical  men  in  professional  intercourse. 

Washington,  April  8,  1873. 

Gextlemex  :  Having  been  absent  from  the  last  meeting  of  the 
Association  I  was  not  aware  of  the  honor  you  had  conferred  upon 
me  until  informed  by  some  of  my  friends  and  by  the  official  notice  of 
the  Secretary. 

To  say  that  I  do  not  highly  apjjreciate  the  compliment  would  be 
affectation,  for  I  do  not  think  a  more  marked  distinction  or  a  higher 
honor  can  be  conferred  than  to  be  elected  President  of  the  Medical 
Association  of  the  District  of  Columbia.  To  me  it  is  particularly 
flattering,  for  I  was  one  of  its  founders ;  I  may  well  and  truly  say, 
Quceque  ipsi  miserrima  vidi,  etc. 

Under  the  guidance  and  counsel  of  the  late  distinguished  Dr. 
Joseph  Lovell,  Surgeon-General,  United  States  Army,  I  originated  it, 
and  called  the  first  meeting  of  the  physicians  of  this  city,  which  was 
held  in  the  room  of  William  I.  Stone's  building,  corner  of  Eleventh 
Street  and  Pennsylvania  Avenue,  on  the  4th  of  January,  1833 ;  made 
most  of  the  motions,  and  offered  many  of  the  resolutions  that  were 
adopted.  Dr.  Henry  Huntt  was  elected  temporary  President  and  I 
the  Secretary. 

Upon  the  completion  of  the  organization,  which  occurred  at  a  sub- 
sequent meeting,  held  on  the  18th  of  January,  1833,  Dr.  F.  May  was 
elected  permanent  President  (which  position  he  occupied  until  his 
death),  and  I  was  honored  with  the  Secretaryship. 

On  motion  the  books  were  placed  in  my  charge  to  procure  the  sig- 
natures of  vsuch  of  the  medical  practitioners  as  were  willing  to  unite 
in  forming  the  Association.  Nearly  every  one  signed  the  rules  and 
regulations,  and  it  became  imfait  accompli.  To  understand  why  such 
an  organization  had  not  previously  existed,  and  why  it?  was  now 
deemed  necessary,  you  should  know  something  of  the  state  of  the 
profession  up  to  that  time. 

From  the  establishment  of  this  as  the  National  Capital  the  growth 
of  the  city  was  slow,  the  population  few  and  sparse,  the  demand  for 
a  large  number  of  medical  men  did  not  exist.  The  profession  con- 
sisted, even  in  1827,  of  not  more  than  fifteen,  and  only  a  few  of  these 


172  PEESOXAL  BEMIXISCEXCES. 

were  regular  graduates  in  medicine.  Among  these  gentlemen  there 
no  doubt  existed  an  honorable  emulation,  but  jealousies  and  profes- 
sional and  personal  conflicts  were  not  uncommon. 

At  an  early  period  the  Medical  Society  of  the  District  of  Columbia 
was  organized,  but  this  did  not  serve  the  purposes  of  our  Association, 
viz. :  to  regulate  fees,  establish  a  code  of  ethics,  and  to  reconcile  per- 
sonal differences. 

About  the  year  1826-27  young,  ardent,  and  accomplished  aspirants 
for  fame  and  professional  preferment  were  added  to  the  profession. 
There  being  no  written  guide,  no  code  of  ethics,  or  fee  bill,  the  diffi- 
culties and  dissensions  which  had  previously  existed  were  multiplied. 
All  felt  the  necessity  for  an  association  which  would  take  cognizance 
of  these  subjects. 

No  one,  however,  took  the  initiative  until  the  fall  of  1832,  when 
Dr.  Joseph  Lovell  prompted  me  to  call  a  meeting  of  the  profession 
for  the  purpose  of  organizing  an  association,  illustrating  the  advan- 
tages of  such  an  institution  by  the  following  anecdote,  viz. :  "  While 
practising  in  Boston  he  was  attending  a  patient  to  whom  in  his  absence 
Dr.  Warren  was  called.  When  he  (Dr.  Lovell)  visited  his  patient  he 
found  Warren  had  superseded  him.  He  enclosed  a  copy  of  the  rules 
and  regulations  of  the  Boston  Association  to  Dr.  Warren,  marking 
those  that  referred  to  interference  of  physicians.  Warren  at  once 
became  aware  of  his  having  violated  the  regulations,  called  on  Lovell, 
and  made  the  amende  honorable." 

This,  gentlemen,  was  the  origin  of  the  Medical  Association  of  the 
District  of  Columbia,  which  was  based  on  that  of  Boston. 

Its  beneficial  effects  were  at  once  seen  and  acknowledged,  and  for 
some  weeks  or  months  it  flourished  without  opposition,  bidding  fair 
to  fulfil  our  most  sanguine  hopes.  Much  to  our  surprise,  however, 
popular  indignation  was  aroused  against  us ;  we  were  called  a  close 
corporation  ;  we  were  denounced  as  oppressors  of  the  poor,  as  extor- 
tioners. Public  meetings  were  held  by  the  citizens ;  counsel  was  em- 
ployed to  break  up  our  organization. 

Foreign  physicians  were  invited  to  settle  here,  with  the  assurance 
of  suj^port  and  protection.  These  actions  of  the  i^eople  alarmed  some 
of  our  weak-kneed  medical  men,  who  withdrew  their  names. 

Firm  in  their  determination  to  succeed  in  forming  the  Association, 
and  conscious  of  the  high  and  honorable  motives  by  which  they  were 
actuated,  the  majority,  unawed,  adhered  to  their  purpose. 

After  this  excitement  of  the  citizens  had  somewhat  subsided,  and 
several  medical  men  had  settled  here  in  obedience  to  their  call,  an 
appeal,  with  refutation  of  the  charges  against  the  Association,  was 
published  by  that  body.     It  was  a  paper  worthy  of  its  author,  the  late 


PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES.  173 

Dr.  Thomas  Henderson,  and  had  the  effect  of  allaying  popular  excite- 
ment and  i^lacing  us  on  a  safe  and  firm  basis.  Those  who  had  with- 
drawn returned,  and  those  who  had  settled  here  under  the  call  of  the 
citizens  petitioned  for  admission  as  members. 

To  show  the  earnestness  by  which  our  members  were  influenced, 
and  their  determination  to  sustain  the  Association  and  conform  to  its 
rules  and  regulations,  every  member  who  had  yearly  contracts  aban- 
doned them.  The  first  who  did  this  was  the  venerable,  beloved,  and 
resjiected  Dr.  Frederick  May.  It  had  been  his  custom  from  early 
professional  life  to  make  yearly  contracts  with  his  patients,  but  as 
soon  as  he  had  signed  the  rules  and  regulations  he  revoked  these  con- 
tracts, and  placed  himself  in  full  communion  and  competition  with 
the  youngest  member  of  the  profession. 

Independent,  gentlemen,  of  the  advantages  which  were  derived 
from  our  association,  in  establishing  a  code  of  ethics,  a  standard  fee 
bill,  and  forming  a  brotherhood,  it  served  to  guai-d  the  interest  of  the 
public  as  well  as  that  of  the  jihysician,  to  establish  the  relations  be- 
tween patients  and  doctors,  as  well  as  of  physicians  among  them- 
selves. 

It  had  another  as  laudable,  if  not  as  high  an  object,  to  arbitrate 
and  settle  all  personal  differences. 

These  were  the  motives  which  led  to  the  formation  of  the  Medical 
Association  of  the  District  of  Columbia,  and  we  are  pleased  to  bear 
witness  that  our  most  sanguine  anticipations  have  been  realized,  and 
at  this  day  we  look  to  this  body  to  guard  and  protect  us,  and  no  one 
has  ever  appealed  here  who  has  not  had  a  fair  and  impartial  hearing, 
and  received  unbiased  judgment.  As  an  evidence  of  this  permit  me 
to  allude  to  a  case  which  occurred  in  the  primitive  days  of  the  Asso- 
ciation. One  of  our  oldest  and  most  celebrated  physicians  had  been 
guilty  of  violation  of  one  of  our  rules  ;  he  was  reported  to  the  Council 
by  a  junior  of  the  profession,  who  had  been  his  pupil,  was  his  inti- 
mate friend,  and  was  in  daily  intercourse  with  him.  He  was  ar- 
raigned, acknowledged  he  had  violated  the  rules,  and  made  a  hand- 
some apology,  concluding  with  the  assurance  that  he  would  be  more 
particular  in  the  future,  to  which  promise  he  most  scrupulously 
adhered  to  the  day  of  his  death. 

Other  such  incidents  might  be  cited,  and  it  is  most  gratifying  to 
record  that  the  friendly  and  personal  relations  of  the  parties  were 
never  for  a  moment  interrupted,  as  it  was  considered  a  duty  and  honor 
to  report  infractions  of  the  rules  and  regulations,  that  the  object  of 
the  Association  might  be  sustained. 

It  is  needless  for  me  in  giving  this  brief  synopsis  of  the  history  of 
the  Association  to  speak  of  the  admission  of  the  Facult}'  of  George- 


174  PERSONAL  REMTNISCENGES. 

town.  This  and  many  other  interesting  facts  and  incidents  have  been 
correctly  detailed  in  a  most  interesting  and  useful  lecture  published 
by  my  friend  Dr.  Toner,  my  object  being  merely  to  supply  a  few  inci- 
dents unknown  to  Dr.  Toner,  and  which  may  prove  of  interest  to  you. 
Gentlemen,  let  me  again  thank  you  for  the  honor  you  have  done 
me,  and  be  assured  it  will  give  me  pleasure  to  administer  the  duties 
you  have  imposed  \x\)oi\  me  with  impartiality  and  to  the  best  of  my 
judgment,  always  invoking  your  aid  and  counsel. 

Dr.  Miller  then  remarked  that — 

The  number  of  original  members  in  1833  was  15 ;  the  whole  num- 
ber up  to  this  date,  280.  Died  since  the  4th  of  January,  1833,  71 ; 
dismissed,  1 ;  removed  from  the  city,  35.  Total  number  of  active 
members  at  this  date,  160. 

It  is  interesting  in  this  connection  to  note  the  facts  that 
Frederick  May,  one  of  the  originators  of  the  Medical  Society 
of  the  District  of  Columbia,  and  Joseph  Lovell,  the  originator 
of  the  Medical  Association  of  the  District  of  Columbia,  were 
natives  of  Boston,  Massachusetts,  and  graduates  of  Harvard 
Univei-sity.  May  was  the  first  President  of  the  Medical 
Association  of  the  District  of  Columbia. 

Dr.  Miller  was  very  proud  of  his  influence  and  power,  and 
took  pleasure  in  asserting  his  authority.  He  was  equally  so 
of  the  honors  of  trust  and  position,  and  maintained  always 
and  everywhere  that  offices  in  the  gift  of  the  profession  should 
be  the  reward  of  dignity  and  merit,  and  not  merely  the  suc- 
cession of  a  routine  rotation. 

He  was  very  active  in  securing  the  establishment  of  the 
Government  Insane  Asylum,  now  known  as  St.  Elizabeth's 
Asylum,  and  was  very  much  hurt  that  due  credit  had  not 
been  conceded  to  his  very  efficient  services.  Notwithstanding 
the  claims  of  others,  it  is  more  than  probable  that  but  for  his 
effi^rts  the  establishment  of  the  institution  would  have  been 
long  delayed. 

In  reviewing  the  lives  ot  the  three  men  specially  named  in 
this  chapter  one  cannot  fail  to  be  impressed  with  the  uncer- 
tainty of  human  character.    They  began  life  on  parallel  lines, 


PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES.  1 75 

in  the  same  city,  with  eoiTesponding  environments,  were  en- 
gaged in  the  same  pnrsnit,  and  blessed  alike  with  magnificent 
physical  development.  Miller  was  born  in  1806,  and  died  at 
sixty-seven ;  Davis  in  1807,  and  died  at  sixty-five ;  and 
Magrnder  in  1809,  and  died  at  sixty.  Davis  soon  sought  a 
life  of  pleasure  and  amusement,  without  care  or  toil ;  Magru- 
der  led  a  desultory  life,  with  medicine  as  the  objective  ;  Miller 
loved  his  profession,  and  followed  it  with  that  coherent  and 
direct  pertinacity  which  always  assures  success.  One  threw 
away  his  opportunities,  another  perverted  them,  and  the  third 
utilized  his  to  the  full  measure  of  his  capacity  and  energy.  His 
life  is  the  only  one  that  will  bear  the  close  scrutiny  of  exami- 
nation and  escape  the  censure  of  impersonal  criticism.  Three 
examples  are  offered,  widely  different  in  the  elements  of  human 
character,  but  only  one  deserves  commendation  and  is  worthy 
of  following.  His  led  to  success,  honor,  and  distinction  ; 
the  others  may  serve  as  a  warning  to  those  who  would  emu- 
late success  and  renown. 

Nathaniel  Pope  Causin  removed  to  this  city  in  1818,  after 
thirteen  years  of  very  active  and  laborious  practice  in  his 
native  State.  He  continued  the  practice  of  his  profession 
until  1838,  when  he  w^as  appointed  by  President  Van  Bureu 
Judge  of  the  Orphans'  Court  of  the  City  and  County  of 
Washington,  which  office  he  held  until  his  death  in  1849. 
He  discharged  the  duties  of  this  office  with  the  same  fidelity 
that  distinguished  his  professional  life,  and  died  respected  by 
the  community,  beloved  by  friends  and  associates,  and  leav- 
ing a  name  without  reproach.  The  faithful  administration  of 
the  duties  of  probate  jurisdiction  requires  the  highest  order 
of  justice  and  discretion.  Dr.  Causin's  long  service  in  this 
position,  and  his  reputation  for  integrity  and  impartiality, 
commend  his  memory  to  every  lover  of  an  upright  and 
pure  character. 


CHAPTER   XI. 

Brief  Biographical  Sketches  of  Members  Not  Previously  Classified,  but 
Selected  from  the  Xumerous  Dead  Because  of  Distinction.  John  M, 
Snyder,  William  P.  Johnston,  Benedict  Thompson,  William  B.  Drink- 
ard,  William  Marbury,  Francis  A.  Ashford,  Johnson  Eliot,  Charles 
M.  Ford,  A.  Y.  P.  Garnett,  James  E.  ^Morgan,  E.  Carroll  Morgan, 
William  Lee,  William  G.  Palmer,  Daniel  R.  Hagner. 


When 

When 

Nativ- 

gradu- 
ated in 
medi- 

bom. 

ity. 

Alma  Mater. 

Died. 

Age. 

cine. 

Snyder,  John  M. 

1827 

W.Va. 

1850 

TJniv.  New  York 

1863 

36 

Thompson,  Benedict 

1843 

Md. 

1868 

Columbian  Univ. 

1875 

32 

Johnston,  "William  P. 

1811 

Ga. 

1836 

Univ.  Pa. 

1876 

65 

Drinkard,  William  B. 

1842 

B.C.  1 

1865 
1866 

M.  R.  C.  S.        ) 
Col.  Univ.          1 

1877 

35 

Marbury,  William 

1824 

D.  C. 

1847 

Univ.  Pa. 

1879 

55 

Eliot,  Johnson 

1815 

D.  C. 

1842 

Col.  Univ. 

1885 

67 

Ashford,  Francis  A. 

1841 

Va. 

1807 

Col.  Univ. 

1883 

42 

Ford,  Charles  M. 

1840 

N.Y. 

1861 

Univ.  Pa. 

1884 

44 

Garnett,  A.  Y.  P. 

1820 

Va. 

1842 

Univ.  Pa. 

1888 

68 

^rorgan,  James  E. 

1822 

Md. 

1845 

Col.  Univ. 

1889 

67 

Morgan,  Ethelbert  Carroll 

1856 

D.  C. 

1877 

Univ.  Pa. 

1891 

35 

Lee,  William 

1841 

Mass. 

1863 

Coll.Phy.&  Surg. 

1893 

52 

Palmer,  William  Gray 

1824 

Md. 

1844 

Univ.  Pa. 

1893 

69 

Hagner,  Daniel  R. 

1830 

D.  C. 

1851 

Univ.  Pa. 

1893 

63 

In  the  selection  of  those  named  in  the  caption  of  this 
chapter  I  have  been  greatly  influenced  by  my  personal 
friendships  and  long  association  with  the  deceased.  There 
are  many  others  among  the  numerous  uuclassified  dead  whose 
reputation  and  memory  are  equally  deserving,  whose  honor- 
able lives  are  entitled  to  the  highest  commendation  and 
worthy  of  record  among  the  elite  of  the  profession,  but  I  am 
not  engaged  in  any  such  elaborate  history  of  the  membership 
of  the  Medical  Society  of  the  District  of  Columbia  as  would 
be  necessary  to  complete  such  an  undertaking.  Personal 
reminiscences  must  necessarily  fall  far  short  of  complete  his- 


PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES.  177 

tories.  So  far  as  possible  these  memoirs  have  been  confined  to 
facts,  incidents,  and  peculiarities  known  to  myself. 

John  M.  Snyder  was  accidentally  killed  by  a  fall,  in  the 
prime  of  life.  I  was  with  him  a  short  time  after  the  occur- 
rence of  the  fatal  accident.  It  was  strangely  incident  to  a 
conversation  with  him  a  few  days  previously.  We  were  sitting 
together  one  bright,  sunny  summer  afternoon  on  the  porch  at 
Belvoir,  and  he  was  telling  me  of  the  pleasure  he  derived  from 
his  afternoon  recreations  at  Greenwood,  the  possession  of  which 
he  had  but  recently  acquired,  in  superintending  the  improve- 
ments and  decorations  of  the  park  around  and  about  the 
dwelling,  and  especially  of  his  efforts  in  pruning  the  old  oak 
trees  of  the  dead  wood  and  unsightly  branches,  I  expressed 
my  surprise  that  he  would  engage  in  such  dangerous  amuse- 
ment, but  his  reply  gave  assurance  of  his  care  and  attention 
to  personal  safety.  I  narrated  to  him  my  observation  of  a 
hired  man  whom  I  had  employed  to  do  like  service  for  me  at 
Belvoir,  who  sawed  off  the  limb  supporting  him,  and  fell 
with  it  to  the  ground,  fortunately  without  injury,  but  for  a 
moment  a  shocking  spectacle  to  me.  He  did  not  heed  the 
warning:,  and  a  few  davs  afterward  I  was  hastilv  summoned 
by  a  messenger,  who  brought  the  story  of  his  fall  from  a  tree, 
and  I  reached  him  only  in  time  to  witness  the  last  of  life. 
The  branch  of  the  tree  he  was  sawing  off  was  hanging  by 
a  splintered  sliver  too  weak  to  support  its  weight,  and  in 
swinging  to  the  ground  had  knocked  away  the  ladder 
upon  which  he  was  standing.  My  friend  was  dying.  The 
picture  of  that  sad  scene  is  vivid  yet.  I  have  not  been  to 
Greenwood  since  the  3d  of  August,  1863,  the  date  of  the 
accident. 

Dr.  Snyder  died  at  the  age  of  thirty-six,  in  the  enjoyment 
of  the  reputation  he  had  earned  by  his  scrupulous  attention 
to  his  profession,  his  earnest  Christian  life,  integrity,  and  gen- 
tlemanly demeanor.  He  was  especially  noted  for  his  attention 
to  details.  Xothing  escaped  his  observation  in  the  sick-room, 
sometimes,  in  fact,  pushing  his  inquiries  and  examinations 

12 


178  PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES. 

into  such  miDiite  details  as  to  be  thought  fussy  by  those  who 
deceive  themselves  by  concealment  and  j)revarications. 

He  was  appointed  to  the  professorship  of  surgery  in  the 
Medical  Department  of  Georgetown  College  in  1854,  and  at 
the  time  of  his  death  held  the  Chair  of  Obstetrics  and  Dis- 
eases of  Women. 

William  P.  Johnston  was  a  student  at  the  "  Round  Hill 
School/'  JSTorthampton,  Massachusetts,  when  George  Bancroft, 
the  historian,  was  the  principal.  After  graduating  at  Yale 
College  he  commenced  the  study  of  medicine,  and  took  his 
degree  in  medicine  at  the  University  of  Pennsylvania  in  1836. 
For  several  years  he  continued  the  study  in  the  hospitals  of 
Philadelphia,  then  spent  two  years  in  Paris,  and  upon  his 
return  to  this  country  settled  in  this  city,  in  1840.  When  I 
came  to  this  city,  and  for  many  years  afterward,  in  fact,  until 
his  death  in  1876,  he  was  the  most  successful  and  popular 
obstetrician  in  the  District  of  Columbia,  and  it  is  doubtful  if 
any  successor  has  or  ever  will  attain  such  popularity  and 
leave  behind  him  so  many  people  who  will  mourn,  not  in 
form,  but  in  actual  and  undisguised  grief.  With  this  broad 
and  comprehensive  statement  this  sketch  might  be  concluded, 
for  it  embodies  the  expression  of  ability,  qualification,  and 
personal  qualities  in  the  highest  order  rarely  combined  in  one 
person ;  but  the  story  of  his  life-history  is  so  rich  in  the  gifts 
and  acquirements  which  deserve  and  earn  success  and  popu- 
larity, and  is  so  worthy  of  emulation  by  his  and  our  succes- 
sors, that  the  truth  of  history  demands  some  outline  of  his 
dominant  personal  characteristics. 

Dr.  Johnston's  distinctive  individuality  was  free  from  those 
ragged  edges  which  incite  and  encourage  hostilities,  and  sharp 
angles  that  occasion  and  intensify  friction.  His  cordiality  of 
manner,  conciliatory  disposition,  equable  temperament,  and 
love  of  peace  led  him  along  the  paths  of  fraternal  comity  and 
good  will.  He  was  never  the  leader  or  abettor  of  contention, 
but  always  sought  to  appease  animosities,  adjust  dissensions, 
quiet  disturbances,  and  restore  friendships,  without  leaving 


PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES.  179 

scars  to  impair  the  completeness  of  his  good  intention.  To 
these  qualities  was  added  a  something — an  indescribable  mag- 
netism— which  endeared  him  to  every  woman  whom  he  had 
attended  during  her  travail,  commanded  the  respect  and  hom- 
age of  every  husband  and  father,  and  so  attached  children 
and  young  adults  that  his  life  seemed  to  be  one  continuous 
greeting  of  joyous  confidences  and  affection. 

He  was  one  of  a  coterie  of  influential  and  distinguished 
medical  men  who  during  their  active  lives  asserted  themseh^es 
in  all  the  relations  of  good  citizenship,  not  for  personal  ag- 
grandizement, but  in  the  maintenance  of  the  dignity  and 
influence  of  the  medical  profession.  They  held  that  the  pro- 
fession had  a  wider  range  of  usefulness  than  the  confines  of 
the  closed  sick-room,  and  that  a  body  of  educated  and  scien- 
tific gentlemen  having  access  to  every  household  should 
make  and  direct  public  opinion  in  everything  pertaining 
to  the  welfare  and  health  of  the  community.  That  gene- 
ration of  resolute  men  has  passed  away,  and  the  profession 
of  to-day  has  so  far  compromised  its  force  and  power  in  the 
competitive  struggle  of  the  numerous  and  increasing  special- 
isms for  individual  success  that  as  a  body  of  men  it  exer- 
cises no  more  influence  in  the  community  than  an  equal 
number  of  other  men  distributed  among  the  miscellaneous 
thousands. 

He  was  the  first  physician  in  this  city  to  devote  special 
attention  to  the  diseases  of  women,  but  he  never  abandoned 
general  practice.  He  was  for  many  years  the  Professor  of 
Obstetrics  and  Diseases  of  Women  in  the  Columbian  Uni- 
versity, and  during  his  life  held  many  offices  of  honor  in  the 
profession.  He  was  a  fluent  and  polished  debater,  and  until 
ill-health  overtook  him  was  a  very  active  member  of  the 
Medical  Society  of  the  District  of  Columbia. 

From  an  obituary  notice  of  Dr.  Johnston,  over  the  initials 
of  a  gentleman  now  a  distinguished  member  of  the  bar  of  this 
city  [Evening  Star,  October  27,  1876),  I  quote  the  following 
paragraph  : 


180  PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES. 

This  it  was  that  made  us  love  him.  It  was  not  simply  that  he  was 
a  gentleman — many  of  his  brethren  are  this,  but  too  many  of  them 
lack  that  high  sense  of  honor  which  holds  the  confidences  of  a  patient 
as  something  which  no  torture  could  force  a  revelation  of.  No  man 
ever  needed  an  assurance  of  secrecy  from  his  lijjs.  The  most  modest 
woman  trusted  him  completely,  feeling  that  her  delicacy  was  as  sacred 
to  him  as  that  of  his  own  child.  This  is  why  we  revered  and  hon- 
ored him. 

This  publication  occasioned  some  criticism,  in  reply  to 
Avhich  its  author  distributed  the  following  printed  circular, 
disclaiming  any  intentional  reflection  upon  medical  men  : 

Washington  City,  October  30,  1876. 
To  DR..N.  S.  LiKCOLN, 

President  of  the  Medical  Association,  D.  C. : 

Dear  Sir  :  I  was  surprised  to  learn  from  yesterday's  Capital  that 
some  lines  written  by  me  in  memory  of  Dr.  Johnston  were  construed 
as  an  attack  upon  his  brethren  of  the  profession.  For  this  construc- 
tion the  editor  of  that  journal  is  responsible,  not  I.  His  defence  of 
that  which  I  did  not,  could  not,  assail — the  honor  of  the  profession  as 
a  body — is  as  gratuitous  as  it  certainly  is  most  ill-timed. 

I  cannot  permit  myself  to  be  drawn  into  any  newspaper  contro- 
versy upon  a  subject  shrouded  by  the  shadow  of  death.  I  must, 
however,  in  justice  to  myself,  protest  against  this  construction  as  one 
most  foreign  to  my  intention,  and,  in  my  opinion,  unwarranted  by  the 
words  used.  What  I  wished  to  express  was  this  :  That  Dr.  Johnston 
was  pre-eminent  for  the  prudence  and  delicacy  which  he  exhibited  in 
his  confidential  relations  with  his  patients.  There  was  that  about 
him  which  inspired  absolute  confidence  in  him  as  a  man,  apart  from 
any  obligation  imposed  upon  him  by  the  code  of  his  profession.  The 
attempt  to  represent  me  as  saying  that  this  profession  as  a  body,  or 
any  considerable  portion  of  it,  is  false  to  that  obligation  is  most  unjust. 
Xo  man  honors  it,  collectively  and  individually,  more  than  I  do.  I 
have  the  pleasure  of  knowing  personally  so  many  of  its  members,  for 
whom  I  feel  the  highest  respect,  that  any  attack  from  me  would  be, 
in  a  manner,  unnatural.  I  have  especially  honored  the  courage  of 
physicians  in  resisting  that  unjust  rule  of  law  which  refuses  to  pro- 
tect confidences  existing  between  doctor  and  patient. 

This  courage  and  high  sense  of  honor  are,  I  am  glad  to  say,  char- 
acteristic of  the  profession.  When  I  wrote  that  too  many  of  its 
members  lacked  that  high  sense  I  only  repeated  what  I  have  heard 


PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES.  181 

some  of  your  own  body  say  again  and  again.  I  am  persuaded  that 
none  of  them  have  felt  aggrieved  by  my  words.  No  lawyer  in  good 
standing  would  feel  his  profession  assailed  by  the  statement — unde- 
niably true—  that  too  many  of  its  members  lack  common  honesty.  I 
am  sure  that  every  respectable  physician  will,  upon  consideration  of 
the  matter,  conclude  with  me  that  the  defence  of  the  Capital  is  much 
more  objectionable  than  anything  which  I  have  written. 

Eegretting  the  occasion  of  this  communication,  I  am,  with  the 
highest  respect,  Your  obedient  servant, 

E.  Eoss  Perry. 

The  omission  of  the  invidious  comparison  would  have  added 
force  and  completeness  to  the  statement  intended  to  set  forth 
and  emphasize  that  element  of  his  character  which  had  won 
for  him  the  esteem  and  confidence  of  so  many  people,  and 
added  so  much  to  his  popularity  as  a  physician,  and  I  intro- 
duce the  above  extract  here  as  an  expression  of  the  popular 
opinion  and  appreciation  of  a  member  whose  life-history 
added  honor  to  the  profession  of  medicine. 

Inviolability  of  confidences  is  the  most  sacred  injunction  of 
professional  life,  and  the  few,  if  thei'e  be  any  such,  who  are 
wanting  in  faithful  reverence  and  acceptance  of  this  precept, 
which  has  come  to  us  through  the  ages  past  as  an  unbroken 
rule  of  conduct,  let  them  take  to  themselves  the  dishonor 
which,  as  set  forth  in  the  foregoing  quotation,  laymen  attach 
to  its  infraction.  And  let  them  accept,  also,  the  admonition 
that  the  great  mass  of  mankind  are  influenced  in  the  selection 
of  a  physician  as  well  by  the  high  and  noble  qualities  of  heart 
and  mind  as  by  his  knowledge  and  skill. 

From  the  beginning  of  tlie  practice  of  medicine,  and 
throughout  my  entire  professional  life,  I  have  been  at  dif- 
ferent periods  more  or  less  disturbed  by  an  aberration  ot 
memory,  which  at  first  I  supposed  was  peculiar  to  myself, 
consisting  in  a  sudden  apprehension,  more  or  less  intense,  that 
I  had  made  a  mistake  either  in  the  composition  or  quantity 
of  some  ingredient  in  some  prescription  which  would  be  inju- 
rious to  the  patient.  In  the  beginning  such  seizures  occurred 
but  rarely,  perhaps  several  times  during  a  year,  then  more 


182  PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES. 

ofteu,and,  finally,  so  often  as  to  become  a  serious  disturbance, 
because  of  growing  fear  tliat  it  might  unfit  me  for  the  pursuit 
of  my  profession.  These  apprehensions  might  come  on  soon 
after  or  several  hours  after  the  visit  at  which  the  prescription 
was  written ;  or  perhaps  I  would  be  awakened  from  a  sound 
sleep  with  the  intense  apprehension  of  mistake  in  a  certain 
recipe.  I  would  be  perfectly  sure  that  I  had  taken  every 
possible  precaution  against  such  mistake,  but  the  perverted 
perception  could  not  be  quieted  or  dismissed  except  by  an 
examination  of  the  written  prescription,  and  this  could  only 
be  accomplished  by  going  to  the  drug-store  where  I  might 
know  it  had  been  compounded,  or  return  to  the  dwelling  of 
the  patient,  very  much  to  the  surprise  of  the  attendant  or 
nurse,  to  ascertain  such  facts  as  would  dismiss  the  painful 
suspense.  No  one  free  from  such  unfortunate  and  distressing 
worry  can  appreciate  the  satisfaction  and  sense  of  relief  that 
follow  the  removal  of  such  an  incubus,  which  is  only  attain- 
able by  actual  proof  that  no  mistake  has  been  made.  The 
fact  that  similar  perverse  conceptions  had  occurred  many 
times  before  without  the  discovery  of  a  mistake  offers  no  relief 
from  the  succeeding  perturbation.  At  one  time — a  long  time 
ago — these  aberrations"  of  memory — I  know  not  how  better 
to  describe  them — became  so  frequent  and  occasioned  me  so 
much  anxiety  that  I  determined  to  consult  a  medical  friend 
of  large  and  varied  experience,  and  selected  Dr.  Johnston. 
After  listening  patiently  to  the  story  of  my  affliction  he  said  : 
"  Do  not  give  yourself  any  further  trouble  about  it ;  it  be- 
longs to  the  practice  of  medicine,  and  is  one  of  its  most  dis- 
agreeable annoyances ;  many  physicians  are  to  a  greater  or 
less  extent  the  victims  of  similar  apprehensions  ;  it  has  pur- 
sued me  through  life,  and  there  was  but  that  single  remedy  of 
positive  assurance  that  no  mistake  had  been  made."  Then  he 
related,  in  a  somewhat  amusing  manner,  the  many  pretexts 
and  excuses  he  had  many  times  made  to  conceal  the  object  of 
an  unexpected,  unnecessary,  and  untimely  visit.  This  inter- 
view relieved  me  entirely  of  mental  worry  over  a  fancied 


PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES.  183 

peculiarity,  and  was  followed  by  less  frequent  occurrence  of 
such  memory  aberrations,  which  have  gradually  lessened  in 
frequency,  but  not  completely  disappeared. 

I  do  not  know  the  proportion  of  medical  men  subject  to 
this  annoyance,  but  believe  very  many  are.  I  have  been  told 
by  many  to  whom  I  narrated  this  circumstance  that  they  had 
suffered  many  times  in  like  manner. 

The  death  of  Dr.  Johnston  was  followed  in  a  few  months 
by  the  death  of  William  Beverly  Drinkard.  The  death  of 
the  former  found  "  a  tempering  solace  in  the  fact  that  he  had 
been  permitted  to  attain  the  full  fruition  of  a  laborious,  use- 
ful, and  distinguished  career,  passing  away  with  peaceful  tran- 
quillity in  the  evening  of  life,  when  the  threescore  and  ten 
years  allotted  to  man  had  been  nearly  reached."  The  latter 
was  cut  down  in  the  vigor  and  prime  of  manhood  life, 
"  young,  buoyant,  hopeful,  aspiring,  ambitious,  and  possessed 
of  the  highest  order  of  talent,  carefully  and  assiduously  culti- 
vated." 

William  B.  Drinkard  was  distinguished  as  a  man  for  his 
uniform  courtesy,  unswerving  integrity,  and  honorable  bear- 
ing; as  a  physician,  for  his  learning,  his  skill,  and  his  devo- 
tion to  duty ;  and  as  a  brother  practitioner,  for  his  urbanity, 
courtesy,  and  high  regard  for  the  ethics  of  professional  inter- 
course. ITone  knew  him  but  to  love  him,  and  the  better  he 
was  known  the  more  he  was  loved.  "  With  none  of  the 
dissipations  of  life  and  none  of  the  passions  which  enslave 
the  souls  and  minds  of  men  ;  with  a  thorough  knowledge  and 
appreciation  of  all  the  departments  of  professional  education, 
he  had  already  gained  a  position  in  this  community  which 
but  few  can  hope  to  attain,  even  after  the  longest  life."  He 
was  great  in  every  capacity  of  life,  noble  in  every  circum- 
stance and  act,  and  true  and  faithful  in  every  relation  of  life. 
No  one  ever  saw  him  ruffled  by  temper  or  heard  an  unkind 
word  from  him  toward  any  human  being,  nor  heard  anyone 
speak  unkindly  or  unfriendly  of  him.  He  was  alike  distin- 
guished for  his  liberality  of  sentiment,  "  punctilious  bearing, 


184  Pi:BSoy^AL  reminiscences. 

unswerving  integrity,  regard  for  the  feelings  of  others,"  ele- 
gance of  manner,  purity  of  life,  disinterested  friendship,  varied 
attainments,  wisdom,  and  prudence. 

As  he  lived  so  he  died.  That  courtesy  and  punctilio  which 
characterized  his  demeanor  toward  every  one,  that  firm  and 
heroic  will  which  had  so  pre-eminently  distinguished  his 
career  from  the  beginning  of  his  professional  studies,  and 
those  high  social  and  intellectual  qualities  which  had  sur- 
rounded hira  with  so  many  friends,  never  forsook  him,  never 
once  yielded  under  the  painful  suffering  which  terminated  in 
death.  From  the  commencement  of  his  illness  till  within  a 
few  minutes  of  his  death  he  retained  all  of  his  faculties,  and 
never  once  lost  his  self-possession.  He  understood  the  nature 
of  the  disease,  marked  its  progress,  and  realized  its  dangers. 
After  a  night  of  great  anxiety  he  replied  to  my  inquiry  with 
his  accustomed  suavity  of  manner  and  usual  precision  of  lan- 
guage :  "  I  am  better.  The  night  was  one  of  intense  suffer- 
ing. I  am  not,  however,  out  of  danger."  The  hope  proved 
delusive,  and  four  days  afterward  he  called  me  to  his  bedside 
and  inquired  if  everything  had  been  done,  and  having  been 
informed  that  our  resources  had  been  exhausted,  he  said  :  "It 
must  be  manifest  to  you  that  I  am  dying.  For  four  days  I 
have  struggled  against  this ;  but  it  is  no  use,  the  end  is  near. 
I  must  intrust  to  you  what  I  wish  to  say."  With  marked 
deliberation,  calmness,  and  clearness  he  communicated  his 
request.  When  this  interview  had  been  concluded  he  asked 
for  his  mother,  who  immediately  entered  his  chamber  from 
an  adjoining  room.  I  know  not  what  passed,  but  in  bidding 
her  good-by  he  said  :  "  Mother,  next  to  the  immediate  family, 
hold  those  friends  who  have  been  with  me  during  my  illness 
forever  in  affectionate  remembrance."  Next  he  called  his  sis- 
ter and  brother's  wife,  and  then  the  brothers,  one  by  one ;  to 
each  he  spoke  words  of  comfort,  and  bade  each  an  affectionate 
and  final  farewell.  Pausing  a  moment  and  looking  away, 
he  suddenly  turned  toward  a  brother  presenting  the  infant 
nephew,  and  with  outstretched  arras  he  bade  Joe  come  to  him, 


PEBSOXAL  REMINISCENCES.  185 

clasped  him  in  his  arms,  kissed  him,  and  returned  him  to  his 
father.  Next  came  the  interview  with  a  lady  whom  he  held 
in  high  esteem.  And  then  came  tottering  to  his  bedside  the 
old  family  servant.  He  grasped  her  haud  and  said  :  "  Yon 
nursed  me  during  my  infancy,  and  have  always  been  faithful 
to  me.  I  do  not  wish  to  die,  but  it  is  so ;"  and  drawing  her 
to  him,  kissed  her,  and  bade  her  a  final  good-by.  He  alone 
passed  through  this  trying  and  afflicting  scene  unmoved. 
Not  once  did  his  voice  falter ;  never  for  one  moment  did  he 
lose  himself,  but  all  his  utterances  were  delivered  with  such 
calmness  as  I  never  witnessed.  When  all  this  had  passed 
the  mental  aberrations  of  approaching  death  began.  With 
an  occasional  irrelevant  inquiry  concerning  some  patient, 
and  the  giving  of  precise  directions  to  another,  he  lingered 
on,  when  suddenly,  seeming  to  re-possess  himself,  he  ex- 
claimed, "  Au  revoir,  "  and  died,  surrounded  by  his  family 
and  friends.  It  was  well  said  by  one  of  his  admirers:  "The 
grandest  and  most  eloquent  expression  of  belief  in  the  im- 
mortality of  the  soul  is  condensed  in  the  ' Au  revoir^  of  Dr. 
Drinkard." 

This  sketch  is  an  imperfect  summary  and  abstract  of  the 
proceedings  of  the  memorial  meeting  of  the  Medical  Society 
of  the  District  of  Columbia,  held  in  commemoration  of  his 
death,  and  inadequately  sets  forth  the  profound  sorrow  of  his 
professional  associates. 

Dr.  Drinkard  was  the  first  physician  in  this  city  who  made 
ophthalmology  a  specialty,  and  though  successful  and  com- 
manding a  large  business  in  that  special  department,  he  never 
limited  his  practice  exclusively  to  it.  At  the  time  of  his 
death  he  was  Professor  of  Anatomy  in  the  Columbian  Uni- 
versity, and  had  had  charge  of  the  Department  of  the  Diseases 
of  the  Eye  and  Ear  in  the  Children's  Hospital,  District  ot 
Columbia,  from  the  date  of  establishment  of  that  institution. 
He  was  one  of  its  founders.  In  its  memorial  notice  of  him, 
the  Board  of  Lady  Visitors  of  the  institution  concludes  with 
the  words  :  "  Few  men  are  found  who  united  so  much  of  the 


186  PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES. 

tenderness  of  women  with  the  firmness  and  decision,  the 
promptness  and  energy  of  the  noblest  manhood." 

William  Marbury  was  the  firmest  man  in  belief  in  the 
justice  of  his  own  judgment  I  ever  knew.  He  brought  to 
the  consideration  of  every  subject  a  conscientious  and  impar- 
tial deliberation,  and  adhered  to  his  conclusion  with  a  will  so 
inflexible  that  it  knew  no  fear,  favor,  or  affection.  He  was  as 
distinguished  for  his  uprightness  and  equity  as  for  his  in- 
trepid firmness.  No  one  doubted  his  unequivocal  and  con- 
scientious truth,  his  unremitting  devotion  to  duty,  and  his 
unvarying  Christian  consistency.  He  was  pure,  artless,  and 
direct  in  all  things,  and,  withal,  kind,  gentle,  and  affectionate. 
He  loved  his  friends,  but  love  could  not  tempt  him  into  the 
ways  of  doubtful  duty  and  injustice. 

During  his  last  illness  an  incident  occurred  which  em- 
phasized an  element  of  his  character.  After  Dr.  Tyler  had 
delivered  to  him  the  result  and  recommendations  of  the  con- 
sultation he  inquired  if  he  could  be  allowed  "  to  poll  the 
jury,"  to  which  each  of  the  consultants  (Drs.  Tyler,  Mackall, 
and  myself)  assented.  When  he  had  concluded  he  laughed 
heartily  at  his  failure  to  discover  any  disagreement,  and  ex- 
pressed his  acquiescence  in  the  conclusion.  He  knew  he  was 
fatally  ill  of  a  chronic  heart  affection,  but  he  was  not  willing 
to  accept  a  conclusion  unless  it  was  the  concurrent  judgment 
of  the  attendants. 

Dr.  Marbury  was  one  of  my  first  acquaintances  among 
medical  students,  being  a  student  in  the  office  of  Dr.  Grafton 
Tyler  when  I  commenced  the  study  of  medicine ;  was  my 
room-mate  during  the  course  of  184:6-47  at  the  University 
of  Pennsylvania ;  afterward  a  colleague  in  this  city ;  and  I 
was  one  of  his  attendants  during  his  last  illness.  As  I  knew 
him  during  the  thirty-three  years  of  our  intimate  association, 
so  I  have  set  forth  his  character  and  worth. 

Dr.  Marbury  was  not  a  man  of  brilliant  intellect,  but  a 
faithful  student  and  successful  physician.  Having  accumu- 
lated a  handsome  competency  by  a  very  fortunate  investment, 


PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES.  187 

he  retired  from  the  practice  of  medicine  about  ten  years  before 
his  death.     He  never  married. 

Johnson  EHot  was  many  years  my  senior,  but  one  of  ray 
earhest  and  best  friends.  Our  congenial  corapanionsbip  began 
with  our  early  acquaintance  and  ceased  only  with  his  death. 
Few  medical  men  pass  through  such  a  long  life  and  retain, 
as  he  did,  the  mental  and  physical  vigor  to  discharge  all  the 
obligations  of  a  large  and  laborious  business  up  to  the  date 
of  his  last  and  brief  illness.  He  died  in  the  harness,  working 
up  to  the  very  hour  of  the  initial  chill  of  a  fatal  pneumonia. 
This  one  circumstance,  and  there  were  very  many  equally  sig- 
nificant, illustrates  his  self-sacrificing  nature.  He  could  not 
deny  himself  to  any  person  who  sought  his  professional  ser- 
vices, nor  refuse  his  counsel  and  assistance  to  any  colleague 
who  might  request  such  aid.  He  was  especially  considerate 
of  young  practitioners,  and  took  the  liveliest  pleasure  in  pro- 
moting their  successful  and  satisfactory  management  of  diffi- 
cult and  emergency  cases,  without  regard  to  reward,  loss  of 
time,  or  physical  endurance. 

With  the  manners  and  demeanor  of  a  modest  and  retiring 
gentleman  of  high  integrity  he  united  the  rare  combination 
of  acute  sensitiveness  with  an  equally  quick  forgiveness. 
The  latter  quality  was  so  responsive  in  mitigation  and  obliter- 
ation of  all  traces  of  displeasure,  irritation,  and  heart-burning, 
that  it  was  more  than  compensatory  of  an  attribute  so  acutely 
incentive  of  contention,  resentment,  rankling,  and  bad  blood. 
They  were  innate  qualities  of  an  amiable  temperament,  which 
more  or  less  dominated  a  life  characterized  by  the  inspiration 
of  charity  with  but  little  of  harm. 

Dr.  Eliot  was  one  of  four  founders,  before  referred  to,  of  the 
Medical  Department  of  Georgetown  College,  and  retained  active 
connection  with  the  institution  until  its  reorganization  in  1876. 
As  I  conclude  this  brief  sketch,  I  am  reminded  that  Eliot, 
Morgan, Howard,  and  Youno-  were  four  intimate  friends  whose 
mutual  and  indissoluble  friendship  emphasized  their  conduct 
as  coadjutors  in  common  interest  and  fraternal  companionship. 


188  PERSONAL  BEMINLSCENCES. 

I  resumed  the  practice  of  medicine  in  this  city  by  shar- 
ing, at  his  invitation,  office  accommodations  at  1731  Penn- 
sylvania Avenue,  X.  W.,  with  Dr.  Francis  A.  Ashford,  who 
was  at  that  time  the  assistant  surgeon  of  the  Columbia 
Hospital  for  Women  and  Lying-in  Asylum.  I  was  asso- 
ciated with  him  and  others  in  the  organization  of  the  dis- 
pensary established  in  connection  w'ith  that  institution  in 
1869.  He  was  the  first  person  to  whom  I  communicated 
the  project  of  establishing  the  Children's  Hospital  of  the 
District  of  Columbia,  and  was  the  attending  surgeon  of  the 
hospital  from  the  date  of  its  organization  until  his  death. 
He  was  the  only  other  person  present  at  my  first  consultation 
with  Father  Healey,  President  of  Georgetown  College,  in 
regard  to  the  reorganization  of  the  medical  faculty  in  1876, 
and  was  appointed  Professor  of  Surgery,  which  he  held  until 
his  death;  at  the  same  time  I  w^as  appointed  to  the  Profes- 
sorship of  Theory  and  Practice  of  Medicine.  I  was  associated 
with  him  and  others  in  efforts  to  establish  a  general  hospital 
in  this  city,  the  possibility  of  which  he  revived  soon  after  his 
accession  to  the  Professorship  of  Surgery,  and  prosecuted 
with  unremitting  energy,  but  with  little  success,  until  Mr. 
A.  S.  Solomons,  who  had  been  his  most  active  lay  coadjutor, 
suggested  to  him  the  association  of  his  project  and  efforts  w'ith 
the  name  of  the  martyred  President.  It  was  through  his 
influence  and  efforts  that  the  public  meetiug  of  citizens  was 
held  at  Lincoln  Hall,  October  5,  1881,  at  which  Mr.  Justice 
Miller  presided  and  by  which  he  was  authorized,  by  the 
unanimous  vote  of  those  present,  to  appoint  an  executive 
committee  of  twenty-five,  empowered  to  proceed  wath  and 
complete  the  organization  of  the  institution  now  known  as 
the  Garfield  Memorial  Hospital.  He  and  I  were  members  of 
that  committee.  He  first  suggested  the  acquisition  of  the 
property  of  the  Sailors'  and  Soldiers'  Orphans'  Home,  and  to 
his  persistent  efforts  and  force  of  character,  with  the  assistance 
and  co-operation  of  the  trustees  of  that  institution  and  some 
of  the  more  active  incorporators  of  the  Garfield  Hospital,  the 


PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES.  189 

transfer  of  that  valuable  property  was  finally  accomplished. 
I  am  not  writing  the  history  of  the  Garfield  Hospital,  but 
simply  setting  forth  the  successive  events  in  the  life  of  Dr. 
Ashford  leading  up  to  and  in  connection  with  the  inception 
and  foundation  of  that  institution,  that  I  may  establish  the 
fact  that  to  him  belong  the  distinction  and  honor  of  being  its 
founder.  He  did  not  live  to  witness  its  dedication  and  snc- 
oess  and  to  enjoy  the  honor  which  would  have  come  to  him. 
In  corroboration  I  cite  the  following  testimony  of  several  who 
were  associates  and  witnesses  of  his  labors  to  establish  the 
memorial  hospital. 

The  plau  of  building  a  general  hospital  in  Washington  was 
agitated  for  many  years,  and,  although  the  need  of  such  an  institu- 
tion was  always  felt,  the  project  never  neared  a  successful  issue  until 
Ashford  took  the  helm.  The  present  hopeful  outlook  of  the  Garfield 
Hospital  may  in  great  part  be  traced  to  his  earnest  and  persistent 
effort. — W.  W.  JoHXSTOi^,  Trarisactiom  of  the  Washington  Obstetrical 
and  Gynecological  Society. 

For  more  than  twenty  years  preceding  efforts  had  been  made  to 
establish  in  this  city  a  general  hospital,  but  not  until  Ashford  assumed 
the  leadership  did  the  project  promise  success.  To  him,  more  than  to 
any  other  person,  the  Garfield  Memorial  Hospital  owes  its  present 
prospect  of  permanent  establishment. — Memorial  Transactions  of  the 
Washington  Obstetrical  and  Gynecological  Society. 

It  is  due  to  the  memory  of  Dr.  Ashford  to  give  a  sincere  expres- 
sion of  our  appreciation  of  his  services  in  the  institution  of  this 
hospital,  and  to  say  that  to  him,  more  than  to  any  other,  is  due  the 
credit  of  initiating  this  undertaking,  and,  by  his  unobtrusive  energy, 
of  putting  it  in  the  path  of  success. — Memorial  resolution  of  the 
Board  of  Directors  of  the  Garfield  Hospital. 

When  the  war  broke  out,  Ashford,  then  a  resident  of  Vir- 
ginia, joined  the  Confederate  Army  and  followed  the  fortunes 
of  his  native  State  from  Ball's  Bluff  to  Petersburg,  where  he 
was  wounded  and  captured.  As  a  soldier  he  won  the  love 
and  respect  of  his  comrades  and  commanded  the  admiration 
of  his  superior  officers.  After  his  release  from  prison  at  the 
close  of  the  war  he  began  the  study  of  medicine  with  Dr. 


190  PERSONAL  REBIINISCENCES. 

Thomas  Miller,  and  graduated  in  1867.  He  was  imme- 
diately appointed  Resident  Physician  of  Columbia  Hospital, 
and  subsequently  the  Assistant  Surgeon  and  a  Director. 
With  the  admission  of  the  first  patient  to  the  Children's  Hos- 
pital, February  1,  1871,  began  his  practical  studies  of  joint- 
affections  of  children.  During  the  twelve  succeeding  years 
he  devoted  himself  to  this  branch  of  surgery  with  the  zeal 
and  ardor  of  an  intelligent  and  skilful  enthusiast.  The 
records  of  the  hospital  attest  the  brilliant  results  he  attained 
in  this  special  department,  as  well  as  in  the  wider  field  of 
general  surgery.  He  was  not,  however,  exclusively  a  sur- 
geon, but  had,  with  unusual  success,  grasped  the  oppor- 
tunities of  a  general  practitioner,  and  brought  to  his  aid  the 
combination  of  the  rare  attainments  of  a  clinical  and  oper- 
ative surgeon  and  successful  obstetrician  and  gynecologist. 

As  an  obstetrician  and  gynecologist  he  won  a  high  reputa- 
tion. His  remarkable  success  in  the  surgery  of  the  female 
pelvic  organs  commanded  the  admiration  of  his  professional 
associates  and  acquaintances,  and  his  counsel  and  assistance 
were  almost  universally  sought  by  his  colleagues  in  those 
cases  requiring  unusual  skill,  experience,  and  operative  dex- 
terity. His  advice  was  never  refused  to  those  who  sought  it. 
He  was  ever  ready  to  lend  a  helping  hand  and  share  responsi- 
bility, and  to  the  rich  and  poor  alike  he  was  equally  polite  and 
attentive. 

His  imperturbable  temperament  and  self-possession  were 
not  less  remarkable  than  his  discretion  and  reticence.  These 
qualities  marked  him  as  a  wise  counsellor,  a  prudent  and 
cautious  physician,  and  a  man  of  commanding  influence.  He 
was  a  man  of  positive  convictions,  yet  never  offensively  ob- 
truded his  opinions  upon  others.  His  judgment  was  so  evenly 
balanced  with  moderation,  and  his  manner  so  free  from  bias 
and  prejudice,  that  the  more  intimate  the  acquaintance  the 
stronger  became  the  ties  of  personal  friendship.  He  was 
always  mindful  of  the  dignity  and  nobility  of  his  profession, 


PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES.  191 

and  was  the  life  and  soul  of  every  enterprise  looking  to  its 
advancement  and  utility. 

Snyder,  Driukard,  and  Ashford  died  young.  They  were 
my  social  and  professional  friends.  I  am  the  only  surviving 
witness  of  the  death  of  each  of  them.  One  died  by  an  acci- 
dent, one  of  acute  pneumonia,  and  the  other  of  an  acute  heart 
affection.  Among  the  dead  of  the  Medical  Society  of  the 
District  of  Columbia  there  were  no  others  before  them,  so 
young,  who  attained  the  success  and  reputation  of  these  three 
members.  The  youngest  died  at  thirty-five  and  the  eldest  at 
forty-two,  in  the  vigor  and  prime  of  life,  beloved  and  honored 
by  the  community  and  the  profession  for  their  ability,  high 
character,  and  sincere  and  unswerving  Christianity.  Equa- 
nimity of  temperament,  fidelity  to  duty,  sincerity  and  direct- 
ness of  purpose,  and  faith  in  Christ  were  qualities  common  to 
them,  to  which  can  be  traced  the  success  which  crowned  their 
lives  with  honor  and  love. 

Born  for  success,  they  seemed, 

With  grace  to  win,  with  heart  to  hold, 

"With  shining  gifts  that  took  all  eyes. 

Charles  M.  Ford  was  a  unique  and  versatile  character, 
singularly  combining  the  histrionic  and  keen  perceptive  quali- 
ties of  a  comedian  with  the  reserve  and  dignity  of  an  unos- 
tentatious and  unobtrusive  gentleman. 

He  seemed  to  have  been  gifted  with  a  redundant  and  effusive 
repertoire  of  serio-comic  and  burlesque  grotesqueness  which  he 
could  command  at  will  and  subordinate  to  the  gravity  or 
levity  of  the  occasion,  at  times  giving  full  scope  and  expres- 
sion to  ludicrous  dialogue  or  song,  illustrated  with  such  facial 
mimicry  and  physical  gyrations  as  might  adapt  his  concep- 
tions to  the  taste  of  his  company,  and  following  such  exhibi- 
tion with  such  display  of  reserved  circumspection  and  dignity 
as  would  sadden  the  reflections  of  the  company  with  the  aus- 
tere reflection  of  connivance  in  guilty  aud  obscene  sport.  He 
could  at  will  be  the  gentleman  or  buffoon,  grave  and  rever- 


192  PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES. 

ential,  modest  or  loud.  In  the  sick-room  be  was  a  deliberate 
and  painstaking  pbysician,  sympathetic  and  considerate ;  at 
the  dinner-table  a  staid  and  dignified  gentleman ;  and  on  the 
excursion  a  rollicking  and  sometimes  an  indecorous  buflfoon, 
overflowing  occasionally  in  inexhaustible  and  versatile  variety. 
But  withal  his  good  nature  was  as  imperturbable  as  it  was 
enduring.  When  in  the  mood  he  would  monopolize  the  atten- 
tion of  the  company,  and  at  another  time  seclude  himself 
from  general  observation  in  quiet  conversation.  Such  were 
the  character  and  temperament  of  a  man  who,  in  life,  was 
surrounded  by  many  friends  and  left  behind  him  no  enemies. 
The  worst  that  could  be  said  of  him  is  to  the  effect  that  he 
frittered  away  opportunities  for  high  distinction  in  the  levity 
and  frivolities  of  pastime  and  pleasure,  sacrificing  himself  for 
the  amusement  and  entertainment  of  others,  who  followed  in 
sorrow  his  remains  to  the  grave,  but  soon  forgot  the  jovial 
good  fellow.  Such  good  nature,  even  in  combination  with 
other  commendable  qualities,  as  was  eminently  so  with  Ford, 
is  not  conducive  to  an  enduring  reputation. 

Alexander  Yelverton  Peyton  Garuett  was  born  at  the 
family  residence,  "Prospect  Hill,"  in  Essex  County,  Virginia, 
September  19,  1820. 

After  finishing  his  academical  career  at  the  age  of  nineteen 
he  entered  the  University  of  Pennsylvania  as  a  student  of 
medicine,  and,  graduating  in  the  year  1842,  passed  his  exami- 
nation before  the  Naval  Board  with  distinction  and  secured 
an  appointment  as  Assistant  Surgeon  in  the  Navy  of  the 
United  States. 

While  in  the  port  of  K-io  de  Janeiro  he  became  a  visitor  in 
the  family  of  the  Hon.  Henry  A.  Wise,  of  Virginia,  then 
Minister  from  the  United  States  to  the  Court  of  Brazil.  The 
result  of  this  acquaintance  was  the  marriage  to  the  eldest 
daughter  after  their  return  to  this  country,  which  occurred  in 
the  fall  of  1848.  After  his  marriage  he  was  stationed  tem- 
porarily in  this  city,  and  upon  being  ordered  to  sea  in  1849 
he  resigned  his  commission  in  the  Navy  and  entered  upon  his 


PERSONAL  BEMINISCENCES.  193 

career  as  a  civil  practitioner.  He  was  strong-willed,  of  good 
education,  large  acquaintance,  and  captivating  address ;  had 
an  excellent  and  discriminating  mind,  with  a  store  of  common- 
sense,  an  untiring  energy,  and  a  sympathetic  nature.  In  a  few 
years  he  came  to  the  front  rank  of  his  profession  and  was 
elected  to  the  Chair  of  Practice  of  Medicine  in  the  National 
Medical  College,  had  made  an  unusually  large  circle  of  friends 
and  acquaintances,  and  acquired  a  high  reputation.  Although 
never  actively  engaged  in  politics,  few  men  in  the  country 
enjoyed  better  opportunities  for  understanding  the  political 
situation  or  took  a  keener  interest  therein.  Of  an  ardent 
temperament  and  possessed  of  strong  family  and  State  pride, 
Dr.  Garnett  had  his  sympathies  deeply  interested  in  the  excit- 
ing issues  which  engrossed  politicians  at  the  National  Capital 
during  the  years  immediately  preceding  the  Confederate  War. 
He  was  the  family  physician  of  many  of  the  leading  politicians 
of  both  parties.  Closely  related  to  Senator  Hunter,  Hon.  M. 
R.  H.  Garnett,  Governor  Wise,  and  the  constant  attendant 
and  intimate  of  such  men  as  Breckinridge,  Floyd,  Douglas, 
and  Caleb  Gushing,  he  became  known  as  an  ardent  Southerner 
in  his  sympathies.  As  partisan  feeling  became  more  bitter 
and  State  after  State  seceded,  the  situation  of  a  man  whose 
position  was  as  prominent  and  whose  views  were  as  pronounced 
as  those  of  Dr.  Garnett  was  anything  but  pleasant  or  even 
safe.  Having  been  reared  to  the  belief  that  his  first  allegiance 
was  due  to  Virginia,  when  that  State  seceded  from  the  Union 
he  left  a  successful  and  lucrative  practice,  abandoned  his  resi- 
dence in  Washington,  and,  leaving  every  earthly  possession 
real  and  personal  north  of  the  Potomac,  proceeded  with  his 
wife  and  family  direct  to  Richmond,  Virginia,  and  entered 
the  service  of  his  State,  When  prepared  to  depart  he  dis- 
covered that  troops  had  been  placed  at  the  entrance  of  the 
Long  Bridge  across  the  Potomac.  He  went  in  person  to  the 
Hon.  Simon  Cameron,  then  Secretary  of  War,  with  whom  he 
was  on  very  friendly  terms,  and  demanded  a  passport  to  Vir- 
ginia.    The  Secretary  deprecated  what  he  considered  a  rash 

13 


194  PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES. 

and  reckless  step  ou  the  part  of  Dr.  Garnett,  called  his  atten- 
tion to  the  sacrifice  he  would  make,  the  extreme  hazard  of  the 
venture,  and  coupled  these  with  a  masterly  presentation  of 
the  inducements  to  remain.  Dr.  Garnett  informed  him  that 
he  had  thoroughly  scanned  the  picture  long  before  they  had 
met  and  that  he  knew  what  burden  he  assumed  when  he  left 
it,  but  that  he  owed  a  duty  far  above  the  plane  on  which  his 
argument  revolved  which  required  him  to  take  the  present 
step,  and  concluded  with  the  remark,  "  If  you  offered  me  a 
lump  of  gold  as  large  as  the  dome  of  the  Capitol  to  stay,  I 
would  not  do  it." 

So  soon  as  he  reached  the  Southern  capital  he  was  taken 
anew  in  the  confidence  of  the  social  and  leading  men  whom 
he  had  known  in  Washington.  During  the  war  he  was  the 
family  physician  of  President  Davis  and  on  terms  of  cordial 
social  intimacy  with  him  and  his  household.  He  was  also  the 
family  physician  of  Governor  Fletcher,  Generals  R.  E.  Lee, 
Smith,  Joe  Johnston,  Hampton,  Breckinridge,  and  nearly 
every  member  of  the  Confederate  Cabinet  and  Senate.  Upon 
the  removal  of  the  Provisional  Government  of  the  Confed- 
eracy to  Richmond,  which  occurred  soon  after  his  arrival,  he 
was  placed  in  charge  of  two  hospitals.  He  was  also  a  member 
of  the  Board  of  Medical  Examiners  which  sat  in  Rich- 
mond to  examine  applicants  for  admission  to  the  Medical 
Corps. 

No  man  who  did  not  witness  the  scenes  enacted  in  a  Con- 
federate hospital  in  Richmond  during  the  war  will  appreciate 
the  strain  upon  the  physical  and  mental  energies  and  the 
worry  and  heartsickuess  which  they  brought  to  a  sympathetic 
nature.  When  Richmond  was  evacuated,  in  April,  1865,  Dr. 
Garnett,  at  the  request  of  President  Davis,  accompanied  him 
as  a  member  of  his  personal  staff  and  remained  with  him  until 
after  the  surrender  of  General  Johnston's  army,  when  he  re- 
turned to  Richmond  as  a  paroled  prisoner.  Securing  a  home 
in  Richmond,  he  immediately  resumed  the  practice  of  his  pro- 
fession with  a  zeal  disaster  could  not  quench  nor  even  abate. 


PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES.  195 

All  of  his  property  real  and  personal  which  was  situated  in 
the  City  of  Washington  had  been  confiscated  by  the  United 
States  Government,  and  in  August,  1865,  he  returned  to 
Washington,  his  business  affairs  demanding  his  presence.  On 
this  visit  his  former  patients  and  his  many  friends  so  urged 
him  to  return  and  reside  in  Washington  that  he  determined 
to  remove  to  this  city,  and  did  return  with  his  family  in  the 
fall  of  1865.  He  was  re-elected  to  the  Chair  of  Clinical 
Medicine  in  the  National  Medical  College,  of  which  institu- 
tion he  was  for  many  years  an  Emeritus  Professor ;  he  was 
also  a  Director  and  Consulting  Physician  of  the  Children's 
Hospital,  and  President  of  the  Medical  Society  and  Medical 
Association  of  the  District  of  Columbia.  In  1874  he  was 
chosen  President  of  the  Southern  Memorial  Association  of 
Washington  and  selected  to  deliver  the  oration  upon  the  occa- 
sion of  interring  the  Confederate  dead  who  had  fallen  during 
Early's  advance  upon  AVashington.  This  was  the  fiirst  public 
assemblage  of  Confederates  within  the  District  since  the  war. 
In  the  year  1887  he  was  elected  President  of  the  American 
Medical  Association.  He  left  his  home  on  the  morning  of 
July  10,  1888,  to  visit  the  seaside,  and  a  few  minutes  after 
arriving  there  died  suddenly  from  heart  failure.  His  char- 
acter can  probably  be  best  summed  up  in  an  extract  from  a 
pamphlet  published  by  him  and  known  as  an  "  Exposition 
of  Facts,"  addressed  to  the  medical  profession  of  Washing- 
ton and  Georgetown  on  the  occasion  of  an  investigation  into 
the  conduct  of  a  member.  It  is  an  example  of  the  firmness 
and  independence  of  his  views  : 

If  this  Association  does  not  possess  the  moral  courage,  indepen- 
dence, and  professional  jiride  to  maintain  its  own  authority,  vindicate 
its  honor,  and  conserve  its  principles,  it  is  better  that  we  should  at 
once  abrogate  its  Constitution  and  adjourn  "  sine  die."  For  myself,  I 
have  no  concessions  to  make,  no  favors  to  ask,  no  compromises  to  oflfer 
with  wrongdoing.  With  a  "  mens  sibi  conscia  recti "  I  shall  pursue 
the  even  tenor  of  my  way,  doing  what  I  know  to  be  right  without 
fear,  favor,  or  affection ;  and  when  my  record  is  finished  and  I  am 


196  PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES. 

gathered  home  to  the  land  of  spirits,  all  I  ask  is  that  there  be  placed 
upon  the  stone  which  covers  my  remains  this  inscription : 

"Hie  jacet  vir, 
Qui  conscientiam  tenebat, 
Fallaciam  abhorrebat, 
Ignavum  detestabatur, 
At  que  nunquam  verebatur  recte  facere." 

The  '■'  Exposition  of  Facts"  was  addressed  to  the  "  Medical 
Profession  of  Washington  and  Georgetown,"  and  purported 
to  be  the  publication  of  an  explanation  which  he  had  been 
prevented  from  reading  to  the  Medical  Association  by  a  '-par- 
liamentary ruling,"  and  consists  mainly  of  the  record  of  the 
trial  of  Surgeon  Baxter  upon  the  charges  preferred  by  hira 
(Garnett),  with  such  comment  as  he  claimed  was  necessary 
for  the  proper  understanding  of  the  controversy. 

James  E.  Morgan  would  have  accomplished  success  in  any 
occupation  he  might  have  chosen  to  pursue.  With  natural 
ability,  intrepid  will,  and  indomitable  energy  he  combined 
quick  perception  of  human  character,  close  observation,  self- 
reliance,  and  common-sense.  There  are  but  few  men  charac- 
terized by  a  combination  of  such  admirable  qualities.  To 
them  he  added  the  faculty  of  trained  application,  which 
enabled  him  to  dominate  himself  with  some  one  or  more  of 
these  qualities  which  would  best  serve  the  occasion.  He 
never  allowed  his  will  unrestrained  dominion,  nor  his  energy 
to  run  away  with  his  common-sense. 

Dr.  Morgan  began  the  practice  of  medicine  in  that  part  of 
the  city  then  known  as  ''  The  Island,"  now  as  South  Wash- 
ington. He  succeeded  others  who  had  failed  and  departed 
thenceforth,  yet  his  success  was  so  rapid  that  his  business 
soon  extended  beyond  the  territorial  limits  of  "The  Island" 
precinct,  and  he  became  very  early  in  his  professional  life  one 
of  the  most  conspicuous  and  widely  known  general  practi- 
tioners in  the  District  of  Columbia.  His  success  was  not  due 
to  any  extraneous  influences,  but  to  the  innate  qualities  of  the 
man. 


PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES.  197 

He  was  a  conciliatory,  kind-hearted,  and  generous  man  and 
friend.  So  generous  and  well  defined  were  the  virtues  of 
lenity,  moderation,  and  tenderness  that  he  repelled  strife  and 
controversy,  and  was  always  animated  by  the  impulses  of  peace 
and  good-will.  He  loved  his  profession,  and  lived  up  to  the 
highest  standard  of  ethical  requirements. 

In  1852  he  was  appointed  to  the  Professorship  of  Physi- 
ology and  Medical  Jurisprudence  in  the  Medical  Department 
of  Georgetown  College,  and  in  1858  he  was  transferred  to  the 
Chair  of  Materia  jNIedica  and  Therapeutics,  which  he  held 
until  1876,  when  he,  with  Young,  Eliot,  and  Howard,  volun- 
tarily relinquished  their  active  duties,  and  each  was  made  a 
professor  emeritus.  During  the  twenty-four  years  of  his 
college  service  those  four  men  were  bound  together  by  the 
indissoluble  bond  of  mutual  friendship,  though  distinctly  dis- 
similar in  personal  characteristics  and  special  attainments, 
and  frequently  diifering  widely  in  matters  of  private  judg- 
ment. 

The  ripeness  and  constancy  of  their  mutual  devotion  in 
common  interest  through  so  many  years  are  worthy  of  the 
highest  commendation  and  emulation  by  their  successors,  and 
will  hold  their  memories  in  the  enduring  remembrance  of  those 
who  were  privileged  to  know  their  inner  lives. 

Dr.  Morgan  exercised  considerable  influence  in  the  councils 
of  the  profession,  and  always  in  the  paths  of  peace  and  good- 
will. He  was  opposed  to  ethical  controversies,  and  held  that 
peace  was  a  better  arbiter  of  justice  than  wrangling. 

Ethelbert  Carroll  Morgan  was  the  eldest  son  of  James  E. 
Morgan.  In  childhood  he  showed  a  raeciianical  turn  of  mind, 
preferring  to  pass  his  time  in  the  building  of  diminutive  der- 
ricks, railway  cars,  boats,  houses,  etc.,  rather  than  in  sports 
and  games.  As  a  youth  his  fondness  was  for  chemistry, 
physics,  and  general  experimentation.  During  this  period  of 
his  life  he  spent  most  of  his  leisure  moments  in  a  little  impro- 
vised pharmacy  and  telegraph  office  which  he  had  fitted  up 
in  the  dwelling.     The  bottles  of  colored  liquid  were  arranged 


198  PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES. 

with  their  lights  that  the  visitor  and  family  might  never  for- 
get that  the  alchemist  was  at  home.  His  telegraph  line,  rim 
and  equipped  by  himself,  covered  the  distance  of  a  few 
houses. 

After  graduating  in  medicine  he  spent  a  year  or  two  in 
Europe,  devoting  himself  especially  to  the  study  of  laryn- 
gology, and  returned  home  fully  equipped  for  special  practice 
in  that  department  of  medicine  to  which  he  limited  his  prac- 
tice, and  in  which  he  so  speedily  attained  such  distinction  as 
to  be  elected  the  President  of  the  American  Laryngological 
Association  in  1879,  at  the  age  of  thirty-three  years.  This 
single  fact  is  sufficient  attestation  of  his  high  attainments, 
skill,  and  success.  But  such  an  official  declaration  of  his 
reputation  was  not  necessary  with  those  who  were  actual  wit- 
nesses of  his  daily  work  or  were  fortunate  enough  to  secure 
his  professional  services.  He  was,  in  fact,  and  not  merely  by 
profession,  a  specialist,  and  limited  his  practice  to  his  special 
branch  of  medicine,  declining  to  engage  in  general  practice, 
or  even  to  accept  complimentary  opportunities  in  that  direc- 
tion. As  a  physician  he  was  thorough,  precise,  and  method- 
ical. His  father  was  wont  to  say  of  him  that  "  his  mechanical 
turn  of  mind  had  given  him  special  aptitude  in  the  application 
and  use  of  his  tools." 

He  died  at  the  age  of  thirty-five,  but  had  made  a  reputation 
only  rarely  attained  by  men  so  young.  His  life  was  character- 
ized by  those  qualities  of  temperament,  fidelity,  sincerity, 
and  Christian  faith  which  are  always  crowned  with  success. 
Through  a  long  illness  he  was  animated  by  the  highest  sense 
of  duty,  and  exhibited  the  patience  and  heroism  of  a  man 
whose  Christian  faith  rose  above  physical  suffering. 

Dr.  E.  C.  Morgan  left  the  following  charitable  and  scien- 
tific bequests : 

And  I  hereby  give,  bequeath,  and  devise  any  and  all  the  estate, 
real,  personal,  and  mixed,  devised  to  me  under  my  father's  will  and 
to  which  I  become  entitled  to  have  and  possess  upon  my  mother's 
death  to  my  trustees  hereinafter  named,  their  heirs  and  assigns  for- 


PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES.  199 

ever  with  full  power  to  sell,  convey,  mortgage,  encumber,  and  rein- 
vest in  trust,  nevertheless  to  pay  and  see  to  the  application  of 

First :  The  sum  of  Ten  thousand  ($10,000)  dollars  to  Georgetown 
University  in  the  District  of  Columbia,  to  be  used  and  held  as  an 
endowment  for  the  prosecution  of  research  in  the  Colonial  His- 
tory of  Maryland  and  the  territory  now  embraced  in  the  District 
of  Columbia  and  obtaining  and  preserving  archives  and  papers 
having  relation  thereto,  and  known  as  the  James  Ethelbert  Morgan 
Fund  ; 

Second :  A  sum  not  to  exceed  Five  thousand  ($5,000)  dollars  to  be 
applied  and  expended  under  the  personal  supervision  of  my  trustees 
to  the  purchase  and  erection  of  a  chime  of  bells  and  a  side  altar  or 
memorial  window  or  a  bell  and  either  a  side  altar  or  a  memorial  win- 
dow for  some  one  Catholic  Church;  said  church  to  be  in  the  District 
and  to  be  designated  by  my  mother  by  her  last  will  or  otherwise,  and 
if  she  fails  so  to  do,  I  direct  my  trustees  to  carry  out  this  trust  as  a 
memorial  of  my  mother  Nora  Morgan,  and  donate  the  same  to  some 
Catholic  Church,  giving  a  preference,  if  there  be  one,  built  by  the 
Jesuits. 

And  in  event  this  clause  and  gift  be  void,  I  direct  said  sum,  not 
exceeding  ($5,000)  five  thousand  dollars  shall  be  equally  divided  be- 
tween Saint  Vincent's  and  St.  Joseph's  Catholic  Orphan  Asylums  in 
the  City  of  Washington ; 

Third  :  A  sufficient  sum  not  to  exceed  Three  thousand  dollars,  the 
income  to  be  applied  to  maintain  a  scholarship  in  the  study  of  medi- 
cine preferably  in  Georgetown  University ;  otherwise  in  some  Medi- 
cal College  in  the  District,  to  be  known  as  the  E.  Carroll  Morgan 
Scholarship ; 

Fourth  :  The  sum  of  Five  thousand  ($5,000)  dollars  to  form  a  fund 
known  as  the  E.  Carroll  Morgan  fund  or  scholarship,  to  be  apj^lied  as 
I  may  hereafter  verbally  indicate  to  my  trustees,  or  if  I  fail,  as  my 
trustees  with  the  advice  or  proper  persons  may  decide,  to  the  main- 
tenance of  a  Scientific  Department,  or  the  foundation  and  application 
of  the  income  to  a  scholarship  in  the  Classical  Department  in  the 
University  of  Georgetown  in  the  District  of  Columbia. 

I  further  direct  my  executors  and  trustees  to  cause  two  copies  to 
be  made  of  the  portriat  of  my  father  by  Armour,  and  present  one  to 
the  Literary  Department  and  the  other  to  the  Medical  Department  of 
Georgetown  University. 

Among  others  deserving  of  honorable  mention  who  died 
young  may  be  named,  without  invidiousness,  Thomas  F. 
Maury,  who  died  in  1871,  at  the  age  of  thirty-six;   Seth  I. 


200  PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES. 

Todd,  in  1874,  at  thirty-two;  Benedict  Thompson,  in  1875, 
at  thirty-two ;  James  S.  Beale,  in  1884,  at  forty-three ;  and 
Charles  M.  Ford,  in  1884,  at  forty-four.  The  news  of 
Beale's  sudden  death  was  brought  to  me  while  sitting  at  the 
bedside  of  Ford,  who  survived  him  three  days.  Todd  was 
compelled  by  ill-health  to  retire  from  the  practice  of  medi- 
cine several  years  before  his  death,  and  Thompson  was  a 
patient  sufferer  with  phthisis  pulmonalis  for  some  years  before 
the  fatal  attack  of  typhoid  fever.  Not  one  of  these  had  at- 
tained that  eminence  in  the  profession  which  marked  the 
careers  of  Snyder,  Drinkard,  Ashford,  and  E.  Carroll  Mor- 
gan ;  but  all  of  them  had  reached  that  success  and  deserved 
popularity  which  gave  promise  of  a  higher  standard  of  pro- 
fessional attainments  had  their  lives  been  spared. 

Benedict  Thompson  was  a  man  of  marked  individuality, 
characterized  with  a  will  as  indomitable  as  it  was  outspoken, 
and  persistence  in  prosecution  without  artifice,  but  not  always 
tempered  with  that  "  suaviter  in  modo  "  which  adds  force  to 
purpose  and  disarms  antagonism.  He  was  firm  and  steadfast 
in  friendships  and  unremitting  in  dislikes,  free  from  dis- 
guise, cool  and  deliberate  in  judgment,  never  hasty,  but  fear- 
less in  giving  expression  to  opinion,  and  never  measuring  the 
import  of  his  words  by  the  courtesies  of  punctilious  ceremony. 
He  did  not  seek  contention,  nor  elude  it  by  any  compromise 
of  opinion  or  self-respect.  He  merited  and  commanded  the 
esteem  and  confidence  of  his  friends  and  associates,  and  while 
unobtrusive  in  manner  and  conduct,  he  never  sought  to  escape 
duty  or  responsibility. 

He  was  a  very  active  worker  in  the  Medical  Society,  de- 
voting time  and  labor  to  promote  its  scientific  progress.  For 
a  number  of  years  he  was  either  a  member  or  chairman  of  the 
Committee  on  Essays,  and  labored  with  great  assiduity  and 
success  in  the  discharge  of  its  onerous  duties. 

William  Lee  was  an  example  of  that  class  of  medical  men 
who  combined  the  qualities  of  a  competeut  physician  with 
some  one  or  more  elements  of  character  or  disposition  which 


PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES.  201 

estranged  and  repelled  patients.  He  Mas  a  careful  and  dili- 
gent student;  a  painstaking  clinician;  attentive  to  every 
duty;  dispassionate  and  courteous  in  manner;  polite,  tidy, 
and  considerate  in  the  sick-room ;  a  popular  and  scholarly 
teacher ;  respected  and  honored  by  his  colleagues-;  prepos- 
sessing in  personal  appearance,  and  a  gentleman  in  every 
relation  of  life ;  and  yet  he  struggled  through  thirty  years  of 
active  pursuit  of  his  profession  without  attaining  a  competency 
of  annual  income.  I  knew  him  well  and  long,  have  been  with 
him  in  the  sick-room,  and  have  many  times  endeavored  to 
solve  the  problem  of  his  signal  failure.  I  know  of  no  death 
in  recent  years  that  brought  together  so  many  professional 
friends  and  associates  to  unite  in  paying  the  last  tribute  of 
respect  and  to  give  expression  of  their  sorrow,  but  not  one  could 
offer  any  explanation  of  his  phenomenal  career.  The  mystery 
of  his  professional  life  has  left  no  salient  lesson  to  profit  those 
who  will  cherish  the  memory  of  his  honorable  life. 

William  Gray  Palmer  was  the  son  of  a  very  popular  phy- 
sician in  Montgomery  County,  Maryland.  He  studied  medi- 
cine with  his  father,  and  had  only  such  opportunities  as  are 
usual  in  the  office  of  a  busy  country  practitioner,  so  that  his 
clinical  advantages  during  his  student-life  were  limited  to 
such  observations  as  the  clinics  of  the  University  of  Penn- 
sylvania afforded  during  two  successive  courses.  During  this 
period  I  was  a  student  at  the  Rockville  Academy  and  a  room- 
mate of  his  younger  brother,  who  was  a  student  of  law  in  the 
office  of  John  Brewer,  our  mutual  friend,  with  whom  we  lived. 
W.  G.  Palmer  was  a  frequent  visitor,  and  the  brother  and 
myself  made  occasional  excursions  to  the  farm  of  their  father 
not  far  distant  from  the  village.  They  were  both  older  than 
myself,  but  companionable.  Thus  was  formed  a  mutual 
friendship,  which  continued  during  their  lifetimes. 

Immediately  after  his  graduation,  in  1844,  he  made  his 
brother  a  visit,  during  which  he  evinced  the  joy  and  enthusi- 
asm of  a  man  who  believed  that  success  and  reputation  were 
in  the  open  field  before,  waiting  the  occasion  when  his  energy 


202  PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES. 

and  self-reliance  would  seize  them.  He  was  as  sure  of  suc- 
cess as  he  was  that  he  had  graduated  with  honor  and  distinc- 
tion. He  commenced  the  practice  of  his  profession  at  Bla- 
densburg,  Maryland,  and  from  thence  removed  to  this  city  in 
1853,  where  he  continued  to  practice  until  ill-health  compelled 
him  to  retire.  He  was  a  conservative,  safe,  reliable,  and  con- 
scientious physician,  commanding  the  respect  of  his  associates 
and  the  confidence  of  his  patients. 

Dr.  Palmer's  personal  life  was  characterized  by  simplicity 
of  manner,  modest  and  unpretentious  demeanor,  and  jovial 
companionship.  He  never  pretended  to  be  anything  more 
than  he  really  was — conservative,  truthful,  and  honorable  in 
all  the  relations  of  life.  He  was  especially  distinguished  for 
his  good-will  toward  everybody  and  for  his  freedom  from 
the  bickerings,  jealousies,  and  animosities  which  serve  only 
to  mar  the  even  temper  and  friendships  that  contribute  so 
much  to  the  pleasure  and  joy  of  human  life.  He  left  no 
enemies  among  his  acquaintances  and  professional  brethren. 

During  his  residence  at  Bladensburg  he  became  the  intimate 
friend  and  associate  of  the  late  Bishop  Pinckney,  and  was  one 
of  his  active  friends  in  inducing  the  Bishop  to  accept  the 
rectorship  of  Ascension  parish  in  this  city. 

Daniel  R.  Hagner  was  one  of  my  early  professional  ac- 
quaintances. After  graduating,  in  1851,  he  passed  a  year  or 
more  in  Europe,  where  he  fitted  himself  more  thoroughly, 
and,  upon  returning,  commenced  the  jjractice  of  medicine  in 
this  his  native  city,  under  circumstances  so  much  more  favor- 
able than  were  usual  with  beginners  at  that  period,  that  he 
soon  acquired  a  prominent  position  as  a  competent  and  suc- 
cessful practitioner. 

Dr.  Hagner  was  dominated  by  such  an  acutely  sensitive 
nature,  with  such  a  keen  and  high  sense  of  honor,  that  his 
intimate  friendships  and  confidential  associates  were  limited 
to  many  less  in  number  than  his  professional  attainments  and 
social  position  should  have  allied  to  him.  He  drew  the  lines 
too  sharply  for  the  era  in  which  he   lived.     These    traits. 


PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES.  203 

together  with  the  equally  developed  quality  of  precision  in 
truth,  marked  him  as  a  man  whose  frieudship  and  confidence 
were  worthy  of  possession  ;  and  whilst  they  did  not  surround 
him  with  a  retinue  of  followers  and  flatterers,  they  did  endear 
him  to  his  chosen  coterie  of  firm  and  steadfast  friends.  He 
was  likewise  too  modest  and  retiring  to  claim  and  assert 
leadership  among  the  foremost  practitioners  of  his  time,  for 
which  he  was  so  well  fitted  by  capacity,  qualification,  and 
intelligent  experience.  He  accepted  proffered  honors  with 
the  reluctance  of  a  man  who  subordinated  ambition  and  posi- 
tion to  the  conscientious  and  unostentatious  discharge  of  im- 
perative duties. 

COMMENTARY. 

A  review  of  the  preceding  Chapters  VIII.,  IX.,  X.,  and 

XI.  suggests  several  very  interesting  considerations  worthy 
of  special  attention.  The  direct  and  active  participation  of 
surgeons  in  the  Army  and  Navy  Corps  in  the  foundation  and 
organization  of  the  Medical  Society  and  INIedical  Association 
of  the  District  of  Columbia  is  distinctly  set  forth,  and  the 
continuous  co-operation  of  surgeons  in  both  corps  in  pro- 
moting the  interest  and  scientific  progress  of  the  Medical 
Society  of  the  District  of  Columbia  is  established  by  the  sub- 
sequent history.  Thomas  Henderson  and  Richard  Weight- 
man,  of  the  Army,  and  Samuel  Horsley,  of  the  Navy,  were 
founders.  Henderson  and  Horsley  were  present  at  the  meet- 
ing of  the  physicians  of  Washington  and  Georgetown,  Sep- 
tember 26,  1817,  called  to  consider  the  expediency  of  the 
"organization  of  a  medical  society."  The  former  was  one 
of  seven  appointed  at  that  meeting  to  "  draft  a  constitution 
and  by-laws,"  and  at  the  first  meeting  held  after  the  adoption 
of  the  report  Weightmau  was  elected  librarian  and  Hender- 
son recording  secretary,  to  which  office  the  latter  was  re- 
elected at  the  first  meeting,  March  8, 1819,  held  after  the  incor- 
poration of  the  Medical  Society  of  the  District  of  Columbia. 
These  incidents  in  the  early  history  of  the  society  affirm  the 


204  PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES. 

close  relation  and  active  co-operation  of  the  two  military 
corps,  through  their  distinguished  representatives,  in  the  pre- 
liminary organization  and  foundation  of  a  medical  society 
which  has  continuously  maintained  an  active  existence  in 
commemoration  of  the  wisdom  of  its  founders.  In  1820 
Edmund  Cutbush,  of  the  Navy,  and  in  1822  Joseph  Lovell, 
the  first  Surgeon-General  of  the  Army,  were  admitted  to 
membership ;  and  throughout  the  entire  period  of  seventy-six 
years  there  has  been  a  continuous  succession  of  membership 
of  Army  and  Navy  Surgeons. 

Singular  as  it  may  appear,  it  is  nevertheless  true,  that  Sur- 
geon-General Lovell  was  the  founder  of  the  Medical  Asso- 
ciation of  the  District  of  Columbia.  Thomas  Miller,  in  his 
inaugural  address  delivered  upon  his  accession  to  the  presi- 
dency, states  that  the  preliminary  movements  to  effect  the 
organization  were  suggested  by  General  Lowell,  and  that  he 
furnished  a  transcript  (see  page  171)  of  the  rules  and  regula- 
tions of  a  similar  society  in  Boston,  for  the  instruction  and 
guidance  of  those  associated  in  its  establishment.  Lovell  and 
Henderson  were  members  of  the  committee  to  draft  "a  system 
of  ethics  and  fee  bill."  Lovell  was  elected  one  of  the  coun- 
cillors at  the  first  election,  and  Henderson  was  the  author  of 
the  address  to  the  public,  which  explained  satisfactorily  the 
objects  and  purpose  of  the  organization,  and  quieted  the  dis- 
content and  animosities  which  had  incited  the  community  to 
threaten  acts  of  violence. 

The  active  influence  of  Lovell  and  Henderson  in  the  organ- 
ization and  permanent  establishment  of  the  Medical  Associa- 
tion of  the  District  of  Columbia  seems  to  have  been  entirely 
forgotten.  This  society  was  formed  to  unite  the  profession 
into  one  concrete  body,  upon  the  basis  of  high  professional 
character  and  decorum,  and  to  establish  and  maintain  uni- 
formity of  professional  relation  and  intercourse  between  its 
members,  thereby  segregating  the  pretenders,  charlatans,  and 
men  of  low  and  doubtful  repute,  and  at  the  same  time  present 
the  profession  to  the  community  as  a  body  of    gentlemen 


PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES.  205 

animated  by  the  highest  impulses  of  honor,  dignity,  and  the 
obligations  of  Christian  physicians.  The  wisdom  of  its 
organization  has  been  attested  by  its  history. 

The  interesting  and  pertinent  conclusions  are  that  army 
and  navy  suru-eous  were  actively  instrumental  in  the  orarani- 
zation  of  the  two  medical  societies  in  the  District  of  Columbia, 
one  of  which  has  completed  its  seventy-sixth  year,  and  the 
other  its  sixty-second  year  of  continuous  existence ;  and  that 
the  profession  of  the  District  of  Columbia  owes  to  two  army 
surgeons  the  inception,  organization,  and  successful  defence  of 
a  society  established  in  1833  to  define  and  prescribe  the  rules 
and  regulations  of  ethical  intercourse  and  relations  of  medical 
gentlemen  and  of  the  profession  with  the  public  at  large. 
Such  historical  events  ought  to  guarantee  permanency  of  good 
feeling  and  harmonious  co-operation  in  all  the  relations  of 
professional  life  and  intercourse  between  the  members  of  these 
military  corps  on  duty  in  the  District  of  Columbia  and  the 
profession  at  large,  with  so  many  of  whom  they  may  be 
brought  into  the  closest  professional  relations. 

It  is  worthy  of  note,  also,  that  Frederick  and  George  W. 
May,  two  of  the  founders  of  the  Medical  Society  of  the  Dis- 
trict of  Columbia,  and  Joseph  Lovell,  were  natives  of  Boston 
and  graduates  of  Harvard  University.  In  1825  Thomas 
Sewall,  a  native  of  Massachusetts  and  graduate  of  Harvard 
University,  delivered  the  first  lecture  in  the  Medical  Depart- 
ment of  Columbian  University.  From  that  date  until  his 
death  in  1845,  at  the  age  of  fifty -nine  years,  Sewall  was  one 
of  the  most  conspicuous  and  popular  physicians  of  this  city, 
and  commanded  a  very  large  and  profitable  business.  In 
view  of  the  fact  that  he  was  the  first  physician  elected  to  a 
professorship  in  the  medical  school  of  that  University,  it 
seems  probable  that  he  was  mainly  instrumental  in  perfecting 
the  organization  of  the  first  medical  school  in  the  District  of 
Columbia.  These  facts  bring  to  view  the  influence  and  instru- 
mentality of  Harvard  graduates  in  the  foundation  of  the 
senior  medical  organizations  in  this  city.     These  data,  con- 


206  PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES. 

sidererl  in  connection  with  the  fact  that  seven  of  the  fifteen 
founders  of  the  Medical  Society  of  the  District  of  Columbia, 
whose  alma  mater  can  be  ascertained,  were  alumni  of  the 
University  of  Pennsylvania,  show  that  eleven  of  the  score  of 
distinguished  men  of  that  period  were  graduates  of  the  two 
medical  schools  of  highest  repute  in  the  country  at  that  date, 
and  assert  the  postulate  that  scientific  medicine  in  this  city 
owes  its  inception  to  men  of  the  highest  order  of  professional 
attainments,  who  have  left,  as  memorials  of  their  wisdom  and 
learning,  foundations  that  have  continued  to  foster  and  pro- 
mote the  progress  of  medical  science. 

The  foregoing  statement  is  all  the  more  significant  in  con- 
sideration of  the  fact  that  the  requirements  for  the  degree  in 
medicine  established  in  1765  by  the  University  of  Pennsyl- 
vania, from  which  seven  of  the  founders  graduated  during 
the  period — 1782  to  1815 — "were  such  as  to  insure  (Pepper, 
Higher  Medical  Education)  on  the  part  of  every  graduate  a 
full  and  sufficient  knowledge  of  the  science  and  art  of  medi- 
cine as  then  existed."  John  Morgan  and  William  Shippen, 
Jr.,  who  inspired  the  plan  of  organization  of  the  Medical 
Department  of  the  University,  moulded  it  upon  that  of  the 
University  of  Edinburgh,  at  which  they  were  educated,  and 
the  Trustees  declared  its  degree  should  be  "  a  real  mark  of 
honor,  the  reward  only  of  distinguished  learning  and  abili- 
ties," and  to  this  end  enacted 

That  all  such  students  as  have  not  taken  a  degree  in  any  college 
shall,  before  admission  to  a  degree  in  physic,  satisfy  the  Trustees  and 
Professors  of  the  College  concerning  their  knowledge  in  the  Latin 
tongue,  and  in  such  branches  of  mathematics,  natural  and  experi- 
mental philosophy  as  shall  be  judged  requisite  to  a  medical  education. 

To  obtain  the  degree  of  Doctor  of  Medicine  it  was  necessary  that 
the  applicant  should  have  been  a  Bachelor  of  Medicine  for  at  least 
three  years,  should  have  attained  the  age  of  twenty-four  years,  and 
should  wTite  and  defend  a  thesis  publickly  in  the  College. 

It  is  not  surprising,  then,  that  such  a  large  proportion  of 
the  founders  and  earlier  members  of  the  Medical  Society  of 


PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES.  207 

the  District  of  Columbia  should  have  been  men  of  learning 
and  ability.  They  had  taken  their  degrees  in  medicine — 
either  from  the  Harvard  or  Pennsylvania  University — 
before  tlie  standard  of  education  had  been  lowered  and  the 
requirements  for  graduation  had  been  debased  by  "  unwise 
competition  and  culpable  neglect."  This  circumstance  arrested 
my  attention  during  the  early  part  of  these  historical  investi- 
gations, but  the  explanation  did  not  occur  to  me  until  I  had 
read  the  lectures  of  Dr.  William  Pepper,  entitled  Higher 
Medical  Education,  but  recently  published.  It  may  not  be  a 
matter  of  much  concern  to  the  general  public  or  profession  at 
large,  and  may  be  considered  an  unnecessary  and  invidious 
distinction,  but  it  is,  nevertheless,  a  convincing  fact  in  favor 
of  the  higher  standard  of  preliminary  education  now  demanded 
by  the  advocates  of  a  higher  medical  education.  It  is  suffi- 
cient to  prove,  even  if  it  was  an  isolated  instance,  that  learn- 
ing adds  influence,  power,  and  standing  to  worth,  industry, 
and  fidelity. 

Youth  and  maturity  were  combined  in  the  foundation  of 
the  three  senior  medical  organizations.  Of  the  founders  of 
the  Medical  Society  of  the  District  of  Columbia  in  1819,  the 
oldest,  Charles  Worthingtou,  was  sixty,  and  the  youngest, 
Samuel  Horsley,  twenty-one.  The  average  age  of  those  whose 
ages  can  be  ascertained  was  forty.  Sewall  was  thirty-six 
when  he  delivered  the  first  medical  lecture  in  the  Columbian 
College ;  Lovell  was  forty-five,  Henderson  forty-four,  and 
Thomas  Miller  twenty-seven  when  the  Medical  Association 
was  organized  in  1833.  All  of  these  men  attained  eminence 
in  the  profession,  and  left  behind  them  the  memory  of  lives 
animated  by  noble  impulses  and  Christian  philanthropy. 

The  attempted  but  unsuccessful  revolt  of  the  community 
against  the  Medical  Association  of  the  District  of  Columbia 
was  a  most  remarkable  occurrence.  It  was  a  strange  freak  of 
public  opinion  that  assembled  citizens  in  mass  meeting  to 
organize  concerted  action  to  frustrate  the  united  effort  of  a 
number  of  physicians — fifteen  in  all — to  adopt  and  enforce 


208  PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES. 

such  rules  of  conduct  as  would  secure  to  the  community  the 
full  fruition  of  the  highest  qualifications  of  the  medical  fra- 
ternity and  harmonious  co-operation  among  themselves  in  a 
common  pursuit.  And  it  was  even  more  strange  that  the 
same  citizens  should  in  mass  meetings  have  resolved,  in  angry 
misapprehension,  to  sever  the  close  relations  of  the  family 
physician,  and,  to  accomplish  this  purpose,  have  invited  an 
influx  of  strangers  from  a  distance  to  supply  the  places  and 
accept  the  confidences  of  the  evicted  family  physicians.  It 
was  not  less  remarkable  that  men  so  lacking  in  esprit  de  corps 
should  have  been  so  easily  found  to  respond  to  such  a  momen- 
tary outburst  of  bad  temper  and  bad  manners.  The  sturdy 
independence  and  courage  of  such  men  as  Lovell,  Henderson, 
Miller,  and  their  associates,  is  in  marked  contrast  with  the 
conduct  of  those  who  took  fright  and  withdrew  from  the  Asso- 
ciation, and  of  those  who  refused  to  join  it  until  peace  had  been 
restored.  Fortunately  for  the  reputation  of  the  profession 
there  is  no  record  of  the  names  of  these  recusants  beyond  the 
statement  of  Dr.  Thomas  Miller  to  the  effect  that  "  those  who 
had  withdrawn  returned,  and  those  who  settled  here  under 
the  call  of  the  citizens  petitioned  for  admission  as  members." 
The  longevity  of  the  pioneers  of  the  profession  in  this  city 
and  of  the  founders  of  the  three  senior  medical  organizations, 
and  their  immediate  associates,  who  began  the  practice  of 
medicine  under  the  auspices  of  their  personal  acquaintance 
and  association,  is  more  remarkable  than  the  average  youth 
of  the  founders  at  the  dates  of  those  foundations.  The  aver- 
age longevity  of  the  founders  of  the  Medical  Society  of  the 
District  of  Columbia  was  sixty-two,  the  oldest  dying  at 
seventy-seven  and  the  youngest  at  twenty-three.  The  aver- 
age age  of  the  twenty-three  physicians  admitted  to  member- 
ship in  the  Medical  Society  of  the  District  of  Coluipbia 
between  the  dates  of  its  incorporation,  1819,  and  the  organ- 
ization of  the  Medical  Association,  1833,  a  period  of  fourteen 
years,  was  sixty-eight.  The  youngest  died  at  forty-eight,  and 
the  oldest  at  eighty-five.    The  twenty-three  physicians  included 


PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES.  209 

in  this  calculation  is  not  a  selected  class,  but  is  the  whole  num- 
ber of  admissions  between  the  dates  above  uaracd,  except  two, 
whose  ages  cannot  be  ascertained.  This  average  could  be 
increased  by  including  others  who  began  the  practice  of  med- 
icine in  the  District  of  Columbia  bctweeu  the  dates  named, 
but  did  not  join  the  society  until  after  the  latter  date.  Each 
of  these  venerable  decedents  has  been  referred  to  in  the  fore- 
going pages  excepting  John  M.  Semmes,  Thomas  Scott, 
Charles  F.  Wilstach,  Baily  Washington,  aud  James  M. 
Staughton.  Staughton  was  elected  Professor  of  Surgery  in 
the  Medical  School  of  Columbian  College  in  1821,  and  died 
in  Cincinnati  in  1833. 

The  absence  of  ambition,  at  least  so  far  as  it  might  relate 
to  the  acquisition  of  a  national  reputation,  was  another  char- 
acteristic of  the  earlier  members  of  the  INIedical  Society  ;  espe- 
cially was  this  true  of  the  class  of  septuagenarians,  among 
whom  there  were  many  very  learned  men.  It  does  not  appear 
that  any  one  of  them  took  advantage  of  the  unusual  oppor- 
tunities for  the  attainment  and  diffusion  of  a  national  reputa- 
tion offered  by  a  residence  in  a  city  to  which  came  annually 
the  most  distinguished  statesmen,  jurists,  and  politicians  from 
every  part  of  the  country,  and  in  which  resided  the  men  hold- 
ing high  places  in  the  National  Government  aud  the  foreign 
embassies.  It  cannot  be  ascertained  that  the  reputation  of  any 
one  of  those  learned  aud  accomplished  physicians  extended 
beyond  the  limits  of  the  "  Ten  Miles  Square."  Dr.  J.  M. 
Toner  has  collected  ninety-four  titles,  to  which  a  few  others 
might  be  added,  of  contributions  to  medical  and  other  scien- 
tific journals  by  physicians  of  the  District  of  Columbia  who 
died  prior  to  1866,  which,  he  adds,  "  makes  a  very  creditable 
exhibit  of  their  intelligence,  high  culture,  industry,  skill,  and 
powers  of  observation."  Those  ninety-four  essays  were  the 
contributions  of  thirty  men ;  fifty-seven  were  by  seven  au- 
thors, and  thirty-two  were  the  compositions  of  four  army  and 
two  navy  surgeons.  Many  circumstances  may  have  induced 
such  modesty  and  reticence,  such  as  the  laborious  life  of  med- 

14 


210  PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES. 

ical  men  during  that  period ;  the  competitive  struggle  in  a 
new  and  cosmopolitan  city,  with  limited  mail  and  transporta- 
tion facilities ;  their  interest  and  activity  in  local  enterprises  ; 
the  want  of  a  leader  with  courage  and  ambition  to  set  the 
example  and  with  capacity  to  take  the  lead  in  scientific  med- 
ical literature ;  the  limited  opportunities  in  the  country  for 
such  publications,  and  none  in  this  city  ;  but  the  most  rational 
explanation  lies  in  the  fact  that  the  Medical  Society  prior  to 
1866  only  met  occasionally  at  very  remote  intervals  for  the 
discussion  of  medical  and  scientific  subjects. 

Not  less  interesting  and  instructive  are  the  circumstances 
set  forth  in  the  foregoing  personal  sketches  of  the  dead  of  our 
profession  that  refer  to  the  high  social  standing,  command- 
ing influence,  and  eminent  piety  of  many  of  them.  Every 
qualified  and  successful  physician  who  "conducts  himself  as  a 
gentleman  (and  but  few  who  do  not  do  so  are  successful)  must 
necessarily  surround  himself  with  friends  and  patrons  who 
esteem  him  as  a  man  and  gentlemen,  but  many  such  men  fail 
to  command  popular  influence  in  the  community  in  which 
they  live.  Their  services  at  the  bedside  of  the  sick  are  sought 
and  appreciated,  but  in  the  affairs  which  relate  to  the  business 
prosperity  and  welfare  of  the  community  they  do  not  rise  to 
the  level  of  the  average  citizen.  Among  those  whose  charac- 
ters I  have  attempted  to  delineate  there  were  many  who  came 
to  the  front  in  every  enterprise  to  promote  the  well-being  of 
society,  the  comforts  of  life,  and  the  general  happiness  of  the 
people  at  large.  Their  habits  of  life,  general  information, 
and  high  sense  of  public  duty  not  only  fitted  them  for  the 
common  duties  of  good  citizenship,  but  impelled  them  to  share 
the  responsibilities  and  obligations  in  all  measures  pertaining 
to  the  common  weal.  They  were  citizens  distinguished  for 
their  professional  attainments  and  honored  for  their  public 
spirit.  That  such  men  should  command  a  dominant  influence 
in  any  community  goes  without  saying.  But  it  is  not  so  much 
the  fact  that  such  was  the  case  as  it  is  the  example  that  should 
be  of  most  value  to  their  successors  and  survivors.      The 


PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES.  211 

medical  profession  does  not  entail  compulsory  exemption  from 
the  ordinary  duties  of  good  citizenship,  and  the  time  has  come 
when  it  should  assert  itself  with  all  the  vigor,  force,  and  power 
which  such  a  body  of  men  united  in  a  common  cause  could 
develop  and  exercise. 

The  most  striking  consideration  is,  however,  the  fact  that 
so  many  of  the  successful  and  distinguished  dead  were  not 
less  conspicuous  for  their  Christian  manhood,  and  especially 
was  this  true  of  many  of  those  who  attained  marked  success 
and  distinction  in  early  life.  It  would  be  presumptuous  in 
me  to  attempt  any  elaboration  of  the  suggestion,  but  the  fact 
is  of  sufficient  gravity  to  command  thoughtful  attention. 

The  succession  in  medicine  in  many  of  the  families  of  the 
dead  is  an  interesting  supplement  to  the  foregoing  commen- 
tary. Worthington  and  son  were  founders  of  the  Medical 
Society  of  the  District  of  Columbia ;  Blake  left  a  son  whose 
son  graduated  in  medicine,  both  of  whom  are  dead  ;  May  left 
a  son  whose  son  is  now  an  active  member  of  the  Society ; 
Jones  and  ]Mc Williams  each  left  a  son — the  latter  is  still 
living  and  actively  engaged  in  the  practice  of  his  profession  in 
this  city ;  Joshua  Riley,  Grafton  Tyler,  and  Flodoardo  How- 
ard each  left  a  sou,  and  Garnett  had  two  sons,  all  of  whom  are 
dead;  George  Miller  died  before  his  father;  William  P.  John- 
ston and  Johnson  Eliot  each  left  two  sons,  all  now  living,  and 
James  E.  Morgan  left  two  sons,  the  elder  of  whom  survived 
his  father  for  several  years  ;  Joshua  Ritchie,  Hezekiah  Magru- 
der,  R.  K.  Stone,  W.  H.  G.  i^ewman,  and  Thomas  Antisell 
each  left  a  son  now  livins;.  There  is  uothino-  unusual  or 
phenomenal  in  these  facts.  The  succession  of  a  son  to  his 
father's  practice  has  been  a  common  occurrence  in  all  of  the 
older  cities,  and  occasionally  it  has  passed  to  the  third  and 
fourth  generations,  but  the  facts  are  the  more  striking  because 
of  the  number  of  such  successions  in  such  a  young  city. 


CHAPTER   XII. 

The  Establishment  of  a  General  Hospital  in  the  District  of  Columbia. 
Ewell's  Project.  Attempt  of  Boardof  Health.  Washington  Infirm- 
ary. Providence  Hospital.  Freedman's  Hospital.  The  Central  Dis- 
pensary and  Emergency  Hospital.  General  Hospital  of  the  District  of 
Columbia,  Georgetown.     Garfield  Hospital. 

As  early  as  1806  the  Corporation  of  WasluDgton  estab- 
lished the  "  Washington  Infirmary  "  .  .  .  "  the  more  efFectn- 
ally  to  provide  for  the  poor,  disabled,  and  infirm  persons." 
This  institution  was  practically  a  "  Poor  House,"  aud  was 
known  and  used  as  such.  In  1846  the  Washington  Asylum 
was  completed  on  the  site  donated  for  that  purpose  by  Con- 
gress, to  which  the  inmates  of  the  "  Poor  House "  were 
removed.  This  latter  institution  has  continued  to  date  iu 
the  same  location  as  an  asylum  for  the  indigent  poor  and 
infirm.  To  it  a  hospital  has  been  attached  with  limited 
accommodatious,  but  not  fulfilling  the  requirements  of  a 
general  hospital.  The  conversion  of  the  lufirmary  into  a 
"  Poor  House "  disappointed  the  expectations  of  those  who 
had  been  instrumental  in  promoting  its  establishment  as  the 
nucleus  of  a  general  hospital ;  but  no  farther  effort  was  made 
to  carry  into  effect  their  original  purpose  until  1820,  when 
Dr.  Thomas  Ewell  devised  a  scheme  to  unite  the  Corporations 
of  Washington  and  Georgetown  in  the  establishment  and 
management  of  a  general  hospital.  Dr.  Ewell  seems  to  have 
been  a  very  conspicuous  physician.  He  died  May  1,  1826, 
without  having  accomplished  anything  toward  the  foundation 
of  the  proposed  hospital  beyond  securing  the  hearty  approval 
of  the  National  Intelligencer  and  the  promise  of  one  thousand 
dollars  by  a  benevolent  citizen.  In  the  National  Intelligencer 
of  September  6,  1820  (see  also  "Anniversary  Address,"  by 


PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES.  213 

Toner,  page  51),  may  be  found  the  following  communication, 
setting  forth  the  object  and  plan  of  the  projected  hospital : 

PROPOSED   HOSPITAL. 

To  the  Editors: 

Gentlemen  :  Annexed  are  the  outlines  of  the  institution  proposed. 
It  appears  to  me  to  be  on  the  fairest  principles,  so  that  it  cannot  be 
shackled  with  those  incumbrances  -which  so  often  defeat  the  main 
object  of  charitable  institutions :  I  mean  tedious  forms  for  those  re- 
quiring relief  and  having  to  curry  favor  with  those  granting  admis- 
sion. It  is  presumed  the  corporators  of  Georgetown  and  Washington 
will  vote  supplies  annually  equal  to  their  respective  population ;  nor 
can  there  be  a  doubt  that  the  many  who  will  contribute  will  have 
no  other  interest  than  that  their  money  may  be  judiciously  laid  out 
in  relieving  some  poor  fellow-beings  unable  to  relieve  themselves. 
The  last  remark  I  have  to  make  is  that  the  population  of  the  corpora- 
tions separately  cannot  support  a  hospital,  but  jointly  it  can  be  done 
by  twenty  thousand  inhabitants.  It  will  be  remarked  that  the  estab- 
lishment is  not  to  relieve  the  old  and  infirm  not  wanting  medical 
assistance,  but  the  sick  who  would  injure  and  be  injured  by  blending 
them  together.  Eespectfully  yours, 

Thomas  Ewell. 

Columbia  Hospital.    Outlines  of  an  Institution  Designed  in  the  Least  Ex- 
pensive and  Most  Expeditious  Wai/  : 

1.  To  relieve  the  poor  who  are  sick  and  have  no  accommodations  at 
home. 

2.  To  administer  medicines  to  those  requiring  and  unable  to  pay  for 
them  at  their  houses. 

3.  To  promote  medical  science  by  making  the  practice  public,  so 
as  to  lessen  the  impositions  of  pretenders  to  great  skill  among  the 
unknowing  part  of  society. 

Article  1.  The  board  of  management  of  the  institution,  governing 
exclusively,  except  in  the  medical  department,  to  consist  of  all  the 
clergymen  and  all  the  members  of  the  corporations  of  Washington 
and  Georgetown,  to  meet  and  regulate  as  they  shall  by  a  majority 
determine. 

Art.  2.  The  medical  department  to  be  exclusively  under  the  direc- 
tion of  the  regularly  qualified  physicians  of  the  two  corporations, 
restricted  to  the  republican  rule  of  letting  each  in  succession  share  in 
the  duties  of  the  hospital  and  the  practice  as  dispensary  physicians, 
eveiy  physician  having  the  right  to  witness  the  practice  of  each  other 
at  the  hours  of  prescription. 


214  PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES. 

Art.  3.  All  persons  connected  with  the  corporation,  and  all  con- 
tributors, shall  have  the  right  of  sending  such  patients  to  the  hosj^ital 
as  they  may  deem  worthy  objects,  excepting  that  the  owners  of  slaves 
shall  pay  as  much  as  the  cost  of  their  accommodation. 

Art.  4.  The  hospital  to  be  located  conveniently  to  Georgetown  and 
Washington,  to  consist  of  small  buildings  of  the  plainest  kind,  de- 
tached from  each  other,  to  prevent  the  propagation  of  infectious  dis- 
eases, and  maniacs  from  being  made  more  mad  by  hearing  each  other's 
cries;  each  house  not  to  contain  more  than  six  or  eight  persons,  ex- 
cept a  centre  building  for  the  resident  officers,  an  apothecary  shop, 
and  a  room  for  teaching  women  the  duties  they  should  perform  to 
each  other  in  childbed,  or  for  other  purposes  of  lecturing. 

It  is  quite  evident  that  Dr.  Ewell's  conception  of  the  ob- 
jects and  necessity  of  a  general  hospital  was  far  in  advance  of 
the  views  of  the  two  adjacent  corporations  and  communities, 
which  could  not  be  induced  to  provide  for  others  than  the 
indigent  and  infirm  poor  in  an  institution  popularly  and  vul- 
garly known  as  a  "Poor  House."  The  unfortunate  failure 
of  the  project  of  Dr.  Ewell  seems  to  have  exercised  a  very 
unfavorable  influence  both  upon  the  community  and  the  pro- 
fession, for  no  further  effort  was  made  until  1832,  after  the 
disappearance  of  the  cholera  epidemic,  when  the  Board  of 
Health  of  this  city  called  a  public  meeting  of  citizens  with  a 
view  to  the  establishment  (Toner)  of  a  general  and  public 
hospital  in  the  city,  "and  memorialized  Congress  annually  for 
the  six  successive  years  for  an  appropriation  to  carry  into 
effect  its  purpose,  but  without  success."  After  this  second 
failure  the  project  seems  to  have  been  dropped  for  a  number 
of  years. 

In  1842  Congress  made  an  appropriation  to  alter,  improve, 
and  fit  up  a  building  on  Judiciary  Square,  previously  occu- 
pied as  a  jail,  for  an  insane  asylum ;  but  it  was  abandoned 
after  the  completion  of  the  repairs  and  alterations,  because  of 
the  unfitness  of  the  building  and  location  for  such  purpose. 
In  1844  the  Medical  Faculty  of  Columbian  College  applied 
to  Congress  for  the  use  of  the  building  (Toner),  which  was 
granted  on  the  condition  that  it  should  be  occupied  as  an 


PERSOXAL  EEMiyiSCEXCES.  215 

iufirmary,  for  medical  instructioD  and  scientific  purposes,  and 
be  returned  on  demand  to  the  Gov'ernment.  The  Faculty 
continued  to  occupy  this  building  as  an  infirmary  and  college 
until  it  was  reclaimed  by  the  Government  during  the  war  fi>r 
hospital  purposes.  Soon  after  it  was  destroyed  by  fire.  This 
institution,  known  as  the  Washington  Infirmary,  was  very 
successfully  managed  by  the  Faculty.  In  1853  its  capacity 
was  greatly  increased  by  au  approjiriation  of  twenty  thousand 
dollars.  After  the  Faculty  acquired  possession  of  the  build- 
ing and  had  completed  the  arrangements  for  its  occupancy  as 
a  hospital.  Congress  contributed  to  its  support  by  appropri- 
ating annually  sums  of  money  varying  from  two  thousand  to 
six  thousand  dollars  for  the  treatment  and  maintenance  of 
transient  sick  paupers.  The  institution  continued  to  grow  i» 
popularity  and  usefulness  while  in  possession  of  the  college. 
It  was  under  the  exclusive  control  of  the  College  Faculty, 
and  was  occupied  jointly  as  a  hospital,  and  medical  school  with 
its  necessary  appurtenances,  which  in  the  present  state  of 
hospital  construction  and  management  would  not  be  per- 
mitted. It  was  practically  the  first  general  hospital  estab- 
lished in  this  city,  though  its  capacity  was  inadequate  and  its 
management  was  not  in  accordance  with  the  approved  methods 
of  the  present  time.  The  reclamation  of  the  building  by  the 
Government  and  its  destruction  by  fire  destroyed  for  the  sec- 
ond time  the  hopes  of  success  in  the  establishment  of  a  perma- 
nent general  hospital,  which  its  successful  management  had 
inspired. 

The  possession  and  occupancy  of  a  Government  building, 
and  the  management  of  the  hospital  deriving,  for  the  most 
part,  its  support  from  the  General  Government  in  the  exclusive 
interest  of  a  medical  school,  incited  considerable  antagonism 
by  those  of  the  profession  whose  interest  was  not  identical 
with  the  college  in  control.  It  was  contended,  and  very  prop- 
erly, that  no  hospital,  however  general  in  its  clinical  aspects, 
could  be  general  iu  fact  under  an  exclusive  partisan  manage- 
ment, to  which  no  physician  or  student  of  medicine  outside 


216  PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES. 

of  the  coterie  of  the  chosen  few  and  their  students  could  gain 
access  in  any  official  capacity,  however  meritorious  their  claims 
might  be,  and  to  which  none  others  than  members  of  the 
College  Faculty  could  send  a  private  patient  and  retain  the 
management  of  the  case. 

In  1854  an  attempt  was  made  to  organize  the  opposition, 
first  upon  the  basis  of  disconnection  of  the  school  and  hospital, 
aud  opening  the  hospital  wards  and  clinics  to  the  students 
of  both  schools.  This  was  abandoned  because  of  insufficient 
support  and  the  powerful  and  dominating  influence  of  the 
Faculty  in  control.  A  second  effort  was  made  to  unite  upon 
the  broad  ground  of  establishment  of  a  public  general  hos- 
pital, which  was  likewise  abandoned  because  of  lack  of  interest 
and  impossibility  of  securing  the  attention  of  Congress.  Dr. 
Noble  Young  was  the  leader  in  both  of  these  projects,  but  he 
was  not  supported  by  any  considerable  portion  of  those  in 
opposition  to  the  management  of  the  Washington  Infirmary. 
They  were  content  with  the  simple  expression  of  their  opinion, 
and  not  willing  to  commit  themselves  in  open  and  organized 
hostility  to  the  Faculty  in  control.  I  took  a  very  active  in- 
terest in  both  projects  and  was  quite  ready  to  make,  as  I  did, 
the  sacrifices  which  every  young  man  incurred  who  antago- 
nized the  will  of  the  ruling  coterie  of  physicians  during  that 
eventful  period.  With  a  view  to  collect  information  to  lay 
before  Congress,  I  opened  correspondence  with  some  of  the 
best  hospitals  in  the  larger  cities.  The  following  is  the  copy 
of  a  letter,  now  in  my  possession,  in  reply  to  one  of  my  in- 
quiries. 

Philadelphia,  May  24,  1854. 

Dear  Doctor:  I  rec'd  your  note  of  the  18th  inst.  duly.  You 
request  "  a  copy  of  the  rules  and  regulations  for  the  management  of 
the  sick  in  the  Penn.  Hospital,  etc."  I  should  have  sooner  answered 
your  note  if  I  had  had  in  my  possession  a  copy  of  the  pamphlet  you 
refer  to,  and  delayed  only  until  I  could  call  at  the  Hospital  and  in- 
quire what  was  to  be  obtained  on  the  subject.  I  called  yesterday  and 
got  the  pamphlet,  which  I  herewith  send  you,  and  which  contains,  I 
believe,  all  that  has  been  published  about  the  rules. 


PERSONAL  BEMIXJSCEyXTS.  217 

I  should  be  happy  to  put  in  your  possession  a  history  of  the  in- 
stitution wliich  I  prepared  some  time  since,  and  which  was  published 
by  the  managers ;  but  it  is  too  bulky  to  be  sent  by  mail. 

Yours  truly, 

George  B.  Wood. 
Dr.  Samuel  C.  Busey. 

With  the  abandonment  of  these  projects  the  controversy 
ceased,  and  the  two  schools,  whether  agreed  or  not,  lived 
together  in  mutual  but  peaceful  discontent. 

Soon  after  the  conversion  of  the  Washington  Infirmary 
into  a  military  hospital  and  its  destruction,  Dr.  J.  M.  Toner 
suggested  the  movement  which  culminated  in  the  establish- 
ment of  the  Providence  Hospital.  The  following  is  a  copy 
of  the  first  public  announcement  made  by  those  in  charge  of 
that  hospital  in  1866  : 

Washington  Providence  Hospital,  Second  Street  East,  Capitol 
Hill,  Washington,  D.  C. 

This  institution,  which  is  under  the  control  and  direction  of  the 
Sisters  of  Charity,  is  now  open  to  the  public. 

All  persons  suffering  from  casualties  or  non-contagious  diseases 
will  be  admitted. 

The  buildings  are  spacious,  and,  with  the  alterations  recently  made, 
well  adapted  to  hospital  purposes. 

The  location  is  elevated  and  salubrious,  the  grounds  are  extensive 
and  well  shaded,  affording  facilities  for  air  and  exercise. 

Providence  Hospital  is  admirably  suited  to  patients  wishing  to 
avail  themselves  of  the  advantages  of  a  hospital,  and  yet  enjoy  the 
coinforts  and  quiet  of  home 

Dr.  J.  M.  Toner  is  the  attending  physician  and  Surgeon  of  the 
house,  but  all  the  physicians  in  the  District  will  have  an  equality  of 
privileges  in  the  institution ;  consequently,  any  physician  who  may 
send  a  patient  to  the  hospital  can  attend  the  same  if  he  wishes  to  do  so. 

The  Management  of  Providence  Hospital  was  the  first  in 
this  city  to  make  any  concession  to  the  profession  at  large.  It 
was  successful  from  its  beginning,  and  has  continued  to  grow 
in  popularity  and  increase  in  usefulness. 

Under  the  following  regulation  it  offers  to  its  Medical  Staff 
complete  protection  from  imposition   by  patients,  unwilling  but 


218  PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES. 

able  to  pay,  who  seek  admission  to  the  hospital  to  escape  the 
expense  of  medical  attendance,  and  thereby  rob  the  profession 
of  its  just  and  well-earned  remuneration. 

The  members  of  the  Medical  and  Surgical  Staff  will,  whenever 
called  upon,  visit  and  prescribe  for  patients  in  private  rooms  as  well 
as  those  in  the  j)ublic  wards  of  the  Hospital.  Patients  occupying 
private  rooms  and  able  to  pay  for  medical  attendance  will  be  required 
to  iDay  the  usual  fees  to  the  Staff  Physicians  and  Surgeons. 

With  the  improvements  and  additions  to  the  buildings,  and 
complete  equipment  wath  all  necessary  hospital  stores,  and 
latest  and  most  approved  appurtenances,  the  management 
claims,  and  properly  so,  that  the  institution  fulfils  all  the  re- 
quirements of  a  general  hospital.  Its  wise  and  just  regula- 
tions conceding  privileges  to  and  protecting  the  interest  of  the 
profession  at  large  deserve,  as  they  must  command,  the  sup- 
port and  commendation  of  the  profession  at  large. 

The  Freedmen's  Hospital  is  an  outgrowth  of  the  late  Civil 
War.  During  and  after  the  war  "  large  numbers  of  freed 
people  drifted  into  this  city  and  remained  here.  Many  of 
them  were  chronic  invalids,  insane,  idiotic,  etc.,  and  required 
medical  attendance.  The  local  authorities  refused  to  provide 
for  them,  and  the  Freedmen's  Hospital  was  established  for 
that  purpose." 

During  the  existence  of  the  Freedmen's  Bureau,  of  which 
Dr.  Robert  Reyburn  was  tli^  chief  medical  officer,  fifty-six 
hospitals  and  forty-eight  dispensaries  were  established  at  vari- 
ous points  in  the  Southern  States.  During  the  period  of 
"  reconstruction "  all  of  them  were  turned  over  to  the  local 
authorities  of  the  Southern  States  by  Chief  Medical  Officer 
Reyburn,  except  the  one  located  at  Richmond,  Virginia.  At 
this  point  so  many  of  the  "  freed  "  sick,  crippled,  and  idiotic 
congregated,  the  city  authorities  of  Richmond  refused  to  care 
for  them,  and  they  were  brought  to  this  city  and  provided  for 
by  the  General  Government  in  the  Freedmen's  Hospital. 

This  institution  was  established  by  the  Freedmen's  Bureau. 


PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES.  219 

After  the  discontinuance  of  tliat  Bureau  it  was  transferred  to 
the  coutrol  of  the  Interior  Department,  and  remains  under 
the  supervision  of  that  Department,  but  its  expenses  are  de- 
frayed out  of  the  revenues  of  the  District  of  Columbia  by  an 
act  of  Congress. 

It  thus  appears  that  a  member  of  the  profession  was  mainly 
instrumental,  if  not  the  originator,  in  establishing  the  Freed- 
meu's  Hospital. 

THE    CENTRAL    DISPENSARY    AND    EMERGENCY    HOSPITAL. 

The  feasibility  of  establishing  a  public  dispensary  had  been 
frequently  discussed  by  H.  H.  Barker  and  G.  L.  Magruder, 
and  on  the  15th  of  April,  1871,  they,  with  other  physicians, 
whom  they  had  invited  to  co-operate  with  them,  assembled  at 
the  residence  of  Dr.  Barker,  and  formally  organized  the  Cen- 
tral Dispensary,  which  was,  on  May  1st  following,  opened  in 
the  Georgetown  Medical  College  building,  corner  of  Tenth 
and  E  Streets,  N.  W.  The  Misses  Thompson  and  Oilman 
supplied  the  drugs  necessary  to  enable  the  medical  staff  to 
inaugurate  the  institution.  On  June  6,  1872,  a  Board  of 
Directors  was  elected,  and  the  general  management  of  the 
dispensary  was  transferred  from  the  exclusive  control  of  the 
medical  staif  to  this  board.  In, May,  1877,  the  dispensary 
was  moved  to  a  building  on  Sixth  Street,  N.  W.,  and  a  Board 
of  Lady  Visitors  was  elected.  Three  years  later  it  was  re- 
moved to  Tenth  Street,  IST.  W.  There  the  Emergency  Hos- 
pital Department  was  established,  and  the  institution  was 
styled  as  it  has  been  since  known,  "  The  Central  Dispensary 
and  Emergency  Hospital." 

The  records  show  that  Dr.  Barker  on  several  occasions  called 
the  attention  of  his  colleagues  on  the  staff  to  the  fact  that  the 
subjects  of  accidents  and  sudden  illness  occurring  in  the  cen- 
tral part  of  the  city  were  frequently  carried  a  long  distance — 
either  to  the  Providence  or  Freedmen's  Hospital — before 
receiving  any  or  proper  attention,  and  that  in  some  instances 


220  PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES. 

lives  had  been  lost  which  might  have  been  saved  by  timely 
and  appropriate  medical  treatment.  He  urged  that  some 
provision  should  be  made  for  the  treatment  of  such  emer- 
gency cases.  Finally  the  medical  staff  requested  the  Board 
of  Directors  to  establish  an  emergency  hospital  in  connection 
with  the  dispensary.  The  board  on  various  occasions  refused 
to  grant  this  request  because  the  directors  feared  to  incur  the 
expense.  Failing  in  these  eiforts,  Dr.  Barker  made  arrange- 
ments with  the  police  authorities  to  have  all  such  emergency 
cases  sent  to  the  First  Precinct  Station-house,  where  Dr. 
Markriter,  the  resident  physician  at  the  dispensary,  would 
attend  and  render  the  necessary  medical  services.  After  this 
arrangement  had  been  in  successful  operation  for  some  time 
the  medical  staif  placed  a  cot  in  a  vacant  room  in  the  dispen- 
sary building,  and  had  such  patients  sent  there  for  immediate 
treatment,  afterward  sending  them  to  their  homes  or  to  some 
hospital.  Subsequently  Mrs.  Audenreid  fitted  up  and  fur- 
nished a  room  for  the  accommodation  of  such  patients,  and 
the  Attending  Staff  placed  four  cots  in  each  of  two  other 
vacant  rooms,  and  called  one  the  male  and  the  other  the 
female  ward.  These  successive  preliminary  movements  were 
accomplished  despite  tlie  opposition  of  the  Board  of  Directors, 
and  only  after  the  Emergency  Hospital  Department  had  been 
finally  established  did  it  consent  to  add  the  name  "Emergency 
Hospital."  In  commemoration  of  this  event  Dr.  Barker  fur- 
nished, at  his  own  expense,  the  large  wooden  sign  now  in  use  at 
the  new  and  commodious  hospital  building.  Not  long  after, 
at  an  election.  Dr.  Barker  was  dropped  from  the  Medical  Staff. 
He  was  the  only  physician  who  had,  from  the  organization  of 
the  Central  Dispensary,  been  continuously  connected  with  the 
institution  up  to  the  date  of  the  failure  to  re-elect  him.  He, 
with  Dr.  Magruder,  had  originated  the  dispensary,  and  he  is 
entitled  to  the  honor  of  having  founded  the  Emergency  Hos- 
pital. 

The  foregoing  is  a  brief  resume  of  the  history  of  the  foun- 
dation of  a  most  beneficent,  and,  perhaps,  the  best  managed 


PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES.  221 

medical  charity  in  this  city  at  this  time.  As  such  it  redounds 
to  the  honor  of  the  medical  profession  of  the  District  of 
Columbia,  and  emphasizes  the  fact  of  its  leadership  in  the 
establishmeut  of  such  institutions.  Tlie  summary  removal  of 
Dr.  Barker  is  another  and  fitting  illustration  of  the  wrong  and 
injustice  of  lay  directors  to  which  the  profession  has  submitted 
without  remonstrance. 


GENERAL    HOSPITAL    OF   THE    DISTRICT    OF   COLUMBIA, 
GEORGETOWN. 

In  May,  1874,  Drs.  L.  W.  Ritchie  and  C.  H.  A.  Klein- 
schmidt  united  with  several  other  physicians  aud  a  number  of 
private  citizens  in  the  organization  and  iucorporation  of  a 
hospital,  known  as  the  General  Hospital  of  the  District  of 
Columbia,  Georgetowu.  It  continued  in  active  operation 
until  March,  1876,  when  its  founders  were  compelled,  from 
lack  of  support,  to  close  its  doors.  Its  inception  was  due  to 
members  of  the  medical  profession,  more  especially  to  Drs. 
Ritchie  and  Kleinschmidt. 

The  medical  profession  was  not,  however,  satisfied,  and 
continued  to  discuss  aud  agitate  in  a  sporadic  and  desultory 
manner  the  expediency  of  the  establishment  of  a  public  gen- 
eral hospital,  but  not  until  the  leadership  was  voluntarily 
assumed  by  Dr.  Francis  A.  Ashford,  in  1877,  did  the  project 
again  acquire  sufficient  support  to  promise  success.  I  am 
enabled  to  fix  the  date  of  the  conferences  of  medical  men,  aud 
to  point  out  distinctly  the  plan  of  operations  by  the  following 
note,  now  before  me  : 

JuxE  26,  1877. 

Dear  Dr.  :  A  request  has  been  conveyed  to  me  through  Dr.  Lee 
to  unite  in  the  new  organization  of  the  Alms  House  Hospital  Board. 

It  will  give  me  great  pleasure  to  aid  in  this  eflbrt  to  establish  a 
well-conducted  city  hospital. 

Yours  truly, 

W.    W.   JOHXSTOX, 

Dr.  S.  C.  BrsEY. 


222  PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES. 

Numerous  meetings  were  held  in  Dr.  Ashford's  office,  New 
York  Avenue,  which  were  attended  regularly  by  a  number  of 
physicians,  at  which  various  propositions  were  discussed,  and 
it  was  finally  agreed,  at  his  suggestion,  that  a  united  effort 
should  be  made  to  obtain  such  change  in  the  management  of 
the  Alms  House  Hospital,  already  in  operation,  as  might 
fulfil  all  the  requirements  of  such  a  hospital  as  the  profession 
had  so  long  struggled  to  establish.  A  statement  was  prepared 
(written  by  myself)  setting  forth  the  wishes  of  those  engaged 
in  the  enterprise,  which  was  nearly  identical  in  language  with 
that  which  will  appear  further  on  (cited  at  p.  228),  and  signed 
by  a  large  number  of  physicians.  Armed  with  this  petition. 
Dr.  Ashford  presented  the  project  to  the  municipal  authori- 
ties, and  continued  to  press  it  upon  their  favorable  considera- 
tion for  a  considerable  time,  but  without  success.  He  and  his 
coadjutors,  reluctantly  and  with  great  disappointment,  finally 
abandoned  the  plan  to  erect  the  Alms  House  Hospital  into  an 
institution  that  would  prove  adequate  to  the  requirements  and 
necessities  of  the  community  and  be  an  honor  to  the  munici- 
pality, then  comprehending  the  entire  District  of  Columbia, 
but  the  bane  of  politics  then,  as  on  many  other  occasions  here 
and  elsewhere,  so  dominated  the  authorities  that  they  could 
not  be  made  to  appreciate  the  difference  between  a  hospital 
properly  constructed  and  managed,  where  people  would  go  to 
get  cured,  and  a  pest-house,  where  people  were  sent  to  die. 
After  this  failure  Ashford  persisted  in  the  prosecution  of  the 
enterj)rise  in  the  direct  line  of  establishing  a  general  hospital, 
free  from  any  extraneous  alliances  or  affiliations,  with  uncertain 
success,  until  the  suggestion  originally  made  in  a  communica- 
tion to  the  Evening  Star,  by  Mr.  Lewis  J.  Davis,  to  erect  in 
memory  of  President  Garfield  a  hospital  at  the  station  of  the 
Baltimore  and  Potomac  Railroad,  in  which  he  had  recently 
been  assassinated  by  Guiteau,  followed  and  enforced  by  a  later 
communication  by  Mr.  A.  S.  Solomons  {Star,  August  3,  1881), 
in  which  he  advocated  the  establishment  of  "  a  general  hos- 
pital to  be  known  as  the  Garfield  Memorial  Hospital,"  "  de- 


PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES.  223 

signed  to  be  as  wide  in  its  scope  of  beneficence  as  was  the 
kindly  heart  of  the  martyred  President  in  its  outstretch  of 
human  sympathies."  He  outlined  in  a  broad  and  Christian 
spirit  the  method  of  soliciting  and  securing  the  funds  neces- 
sary for  its  foundation  and  endowment.  Solomons  brought 
to  Ashford's  attention  the  greater  possibility  of  his  success  by 
uniting  the  elSbrts  of  the  friends  of  his  project  to  establish  a 
public  general  hospital  with  those  of  Davis,  Solomons,  and 
others,  who  had,  with  the  aid  and  support  of  the  Evening  Star 
newspaper,  taken  the  lead  in  the  proposed  foundation  of  a 
memorial  hospital.  Ashford's  sagacity  prompted  the  imme- 
diate acceptance  of  the  proposition  of  Solomons  and  Davis, 
and  the  friends  and  colaborers  worked  thereafter  together  in 
the  common  cause.  Mr.  Solomons  assures  me  that  "Dr.  Ash- 
ford  was  very  anxious  for  the  establishment  of  a  general  hos- 
pital that  would  be  strictly  non-sectarian  and  wherein  the 
medical  and  surgical  practitioners  of  the  District  could  have 
free  access  at  all  times." 

Hence,  besides  the  sentiment  involved  in  the  establishment 
of  a  hospital  in  memory  of  the  martyred  President,  he  was 
desirous  to  see  erected  a  hospital  upon  the  broadest  basis,  and 
which  would  do  credit  not  only  to  Washington,  but  to  the 
whole  country. 

An  evening  was  fixed  for  a  public  meeting  of  citizens,  and 
after  failing  to  secure  the  consent  of  several  prominent  gentle- 
men to  preside.  Dr.  Ashford  drove  with  Mr.  Solomons  to  the 
residence  of  Mr.  Justice  Samuel  F.  Miller,  of  the  United 
States  Supreme  Court,  who  finally  consented  to  preside  at  the 
meeting. 

At  the  public  meeting  of  citizens,  held  at  Lincoln  Hall, 
October  5,  1881,  the  following  preamble  and  resolutions  were 
reported  by  Mi\  Solomons,  Chairman  of  the  Committee,  and 
unanimously  adopted  : 

WJiereas,  The  whole  civilized  world  has  been  shocked  and  moved  to 
tears  by  the  untimely  death  of  the  late  President  of  the  United  States, 
and  will,  we  believe,  unite  with  us  in  testifying  it^s  admiration  of  the 


224  PERSONAL  BEMINISGENGES. 

man  for  his  unsullied  virtues,  eminent  statesmanship,  unflinching 
courage,  and  for  his  patient  endurance  and  steadfast  hope  during  his 
painful  illness;  and 

Whereas,  It  is  desirable  to  perpetuate  his  cherished  memory  in  a 
manner  consistent  with  his  constant  practice  of  "  doing  good  unto 
others  "  in  the  most  direct  and  practical  way ;  and 

Whereas,  During  his  life  he  always  manifested  the  greatest  interest 
in  all  charitable  institutions,  and  at  the  close  of  his  Congressional 
career  expressed  his  great  desire  to  see  established  in  Washington  a 
general  hospital,  and  j)romised  to  aid  such  a  benevolent  enterprise  to 
the  full  extent  of  his  ability ;  therefore,  be  it 

Resolved,  That  the  citizens  of  the  United  States,  and  loving,  sympa- 
thetic friends  everywhere,  will  doubtless  consider  it  a  privilege  as 
well  as  a  duty  to  their  departed  brother,  James  Abraham  Garfield,  to 
erect  to  his  memory  a  free  general  hospital,  to  be  national  in  character, 
and  conducted  on  the  broadest  basis  of  common  humanity,  and  that 
this  monument  of  the  people's  esteem  and  gratitude  be  known  as  the 
Garfield  Memorial  Hospital,  and  located  in  the  District  of  Columbia, 
where  he  was  so  ruthlessly  stricken  down  in  the  discharge  of  his 
public  duties ;  and  with  a  view  of  promptly  promoting  this  object, 
it  is 

Resolved,  That  Mr.  Justice  Miller  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the 
United  States,  the  chairman  of  this  public  assemblage,  held  in  the 
City  of  Washington,  on  the  5th  day  of  October,  1881,  do  appoint  an 
Executive  Committee  of  twenty-five  persons,  with  full  power  and 
privilege  to  fill  vacancies,  to  take  such  action  as  will  consummate  to 
the  fullest  extent  the  object  herein  set  forth. 

During;  the  consideration  of  these  resolutions  Mr.  Solomons 
said  : 

It  was  well  known  {Evening  Star,  October  6,  1881)  the  tragedy  oc- 
curred upon  the  Hebrew  Sabbath,  and  the  news  reached  a  moral  con- 
gregation of  that  people  in  this  city  at  their  devotion 

Subsequently  the  idea  of  a  memorial  hospital  was  suggested,  and 
from  two  small  and  poor  Hebrew  congregations,  very  small,  and  from 
the  church  fund,  not  individual,  he  presented  a  check  each — one  for 
$50  and  the  other  for  $25.  He  also  presented  from  the  St.  George 
Society  of  the  District,  a  check  for  $25. 

These  were  the  first  contributions  made  to  the  treasury  of 
the  Garfield  Memorial  Hospital,  and  were  made  before  Mr. 
Justice  Miller  had  appointed  the  Executive  Committee. 


PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES.  225 

Tlie  Executive  Committee  of  twenty-five  appointed  by  Mr. 
Justice  Miller  held  its  first  meeting  at  the  Ebbitt  House  ou 
the  evening  of  October  10,  1881,  and  proceeded  at  once  to 
carry  into  effect  the  instructions  of  the  public  meeting.  The 
medical  j^rofessiou  of  the  District  of  Columbia  was  represented 
on  this  Committee  by  Drs.  William  G.  Palmer,  James  M. 
Toner,  Smith  Townshend,  Francis  A.  Ashford,  J.  Ford 
Thompson,  and  Samuel  C.  Busey. 

The  first  and  most  important  matter  which  occupied  the 
attention  of  the  Committee  related  exclusively  to  the  raising 
of  the  necessary  funds,  and  it  having  come  to  its  knowledge, 
through  Dr.  Ashford,  that  the  purpose  for  which  the  "  National 
Soldiers' and  Sailors' Orphans'  Home"  w^as  established  had  been 
accomplished,  and  the  trust  imposed  upon  that  corporation 
had  been  executed,  leaving  in  its  possession  certain  properties 
for  which  it  had  no  further  use,  and  learning,  furthermore, 
that  the  surviving  trustees  of  that  corporation  were  willing, 
with  the  consent  of  Congress,  to  make  such  transfer  of  their 
property  as  would  apply  it  to  "the  cause  of  charity  and  the 
relief  of  human  suffering,"  the  Executive  Committee  pro- 
ceeded with  great  dispatch  and  energy  to  acquire  the  property 
by  securing  the  passage  by  Congress  of  an  act  to  enable  the 
Trustees  of  that  corporation  to  make  such  transfer  to  the 
Garfield  Memorial  Hospital.  It  was  believed  at  the  time 
that  the  property,  if  acquired,  would  be  sufficient  in  amount 
to  enable  the  Committee  to  purchase  a  suitable  location,  and, 
perhaps,  to  open  the  hospital  for  the  reception  of  patients. 
How  much  was  realized  I  cannot  now  state.  It  was  not  less 
than  fifty  thousand  dollars.  (See  Justice  Miller's  address  at 
the  dedication,  delivered  May  30,  1884.) 

To  make  effective  the  legislation  necessary  to  consummate 
the  acquisition  of  the  property,  the  Executive  Committee  in- 
corporated itself,  and  provided  that  (Section  4,  Charter) 

During  the  first  year  of  the  existence  of  the  Society  its  affairs  and 
funds  shall  be  controlled  and  managed  by  a  Board  of  Directors  of 

15 


226  PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES. 

thirty-seven  persons*,  comiiosed  of  the  persons    named   in  the  first 
section  of  this  certificate. 

In  the  charter  approved  May  18th,  and  recorded  ^lay  27, 
1882,  pursuant  to  the  "  provisions  of  sections  numbered  from 
545  to  552  both  inclusive,  of  the  Revised  Statutes  of  the 
tJnited  States  relating  to  the  District  of  Columbia,"  the  six 
physicians  previously  named  were,  with  the  other  members 
of  the  Executive  Committee,  made  incorporators  of  the  insti- 
tution. These  incorporators  held  their  first  meeting  as  the 
Board  of  Directors  on  the  6th  of  June,  1882,  and  continued 
in  charge  of  the  affairs  of  the  corporation  until  the  31st  of 
May,  1883. 

In  the  amended  certificate  of  incorporation  of  1884,  re- 
corded June  17,  1884,  the  name  of  Dr.  Ashford,  who  had 
died,  is  omitted  from  the  list  of  incorporators,  and  the  name 
of  Dr.  A.  Y.  P.  Garnett,  who  had  been  previously  elected, 
appears  as  one  of  the  incorporators.     He  has  since  died. 

I  cannot  assert  it  as  a  fact,  but  my  recollection  and  belief 
are  that  Dr.  Ashford  was  the  first  to  suggest  the  acquisition 
of  the  property  of  the  "National  Soldiers' and  Sailors'  Orphans' 
Home."  I  do  know  that  he  held  numerous  interviews  with 
some  of  the  Trustees,  especially  with  the  Rev.  Dr.  Sunder- 
land and  Chief  Justice  Cartter  and  with  Mr.  Neal,  the  Chair- 
man of  the  Committee  of  the  House  of  Representatives  on 
the  District  of  Columbia,  in  regard  to  the  transfer  of  this 
property.  I  was  present  at  several  of  the  interviews  with 
Judge  Cartter,  and  can  testify  that  he  accepted  the  proposition 
with  marked  enthusiasm,  and  gave  to  it  his  earnest  support. 
Judge  Cartter's  opinion  in  regard  to  the  necessity  of  the 
passage  of  the  enabling  act  and  his  advocacy  of  the  transfer 
constituted  the  turning-point  in  the  success  of  the  scheme. 

To  promote  the  success  of  these  efforts  to  secure  the  prop- 
erty in  which  the  incorporators  of  the  hospital  and  trustees  of 
the  orphans'  home  were  alike  actively  engaged,  the  medical 
profession  as  a  body,  and  individually  in  large  numbers,  took 
a  very  active  interest  and  contributed  considerable  influence, 


PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES.  227 

as  is  shown  by  the  following  resolutions  passed  by  the  Medi- 
cal Society,  and  the  Memorial  signed  by  eighty-five  physicians, 
in  which  the  necessity  and  advantages  of  the  establishment  of 
a  public  general  hospital  are  set  forth  in  unmistakable  terms 
of  approval  and  commendation. 

The  following  resolutions  (after  lying  on  the  table  one  week) 
were  unanimously  adopted  by  the  Medical  Society  at  its 
regular  meeting,  Wednesday,  May  10,  1882  : 

Whereas,  The  medical  profession  of  this  District  have  long  felt  the 
need  of  a  general  hospital,  and,  in  a  very  largely  attended  meeting 
before  the  late  Civil  War,  had,  with  great  unanimity,  formed  a  project 
for  the  establishment  of  such  a  hosijital,  the  movements  for  which 
were  unfortunately  interrupted  and  rendered  abortive  by  that  unhappy 
event;  and, 

Whereas,  The  necessities  for  such  an  institution  are  unquestionable, 
and  have,  since  that  time,  not  diminished  but  increased  more  than 
sevenfold ;  therefore. 

Resolved,  That  this  society  has  learned  with  great  pleasure  that 
certain  patriotic  and  benevolent  ladies  and  gentlemen  are  now  earn- 
estly co-operating  in  the  endeavor  to  procure  the  establishment  of  a 
general  hospital,  to  be  known  as  the  Gartield  Memorial  Hospital. 

Resolved,  That  no  more  appropriate  method  of  honoring  the  memory 
.of  our  late  brutally  murdered  President  can  be  conceived  of  than  the 
erection  of  such  a  monument;  an  ever-active  institution  for  the 
relief  of  humanity,  suffering  in  so  many  various  forms ;  a  source  for 
the  acquirement  and  development  of  knowledge  in  those  branches  of 
scientific  study  most  nearly  directed  to  the  immediate  relief  of  many; 
and  an  everlasting  and  inexhaustible  well-spring  of  charity  and  be- 
nevolence, which  in  the  minds  of  all  men  of  right  feeling  must  be 
esteemed  far  above  the  tablets  of  brass  or  mere  monuments  of  bronze 
or  marble. 

Resolved,  That  this  Society  desires  to  assure  all  concerned  that  the 
proposed  measure  meets  with  its  entire  approbation,  to  express  the 
extreme  interest  which  is  felt  in  the  success  of  so  good  a  benevolence, 
and  to  offer  its  cordial  co-operation  in  efforts  to  obtain  so  desirable  an 

object. 

F.  A.  ASHFORD,  M.D., 

President, 
T.  E.  McArdle,  M.D., 

Secretary. 


228  PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES, 

Garfield  Memorial  Hospital, 

Washington,  D.  C,  June,  1882. 

The  undersigned,  legally  qualified  practitioners  of  medicine,  resid- 
ing in  the  District  of  Columbia,  do  hereby  unite  in  commendation  of 
the  projected  establishment  of  a  general  hospital  in  the  District,  to  be 
known  as  the  Garfield  Memorial  Hospital,  and  respectfully  represent 
that  such  an  institution  is  a  needed  charity  and  a  requirement  of  any 
properly  devised  system  for  the  dispensation  of  medicine  to  and  for 
the  medical  and  surgical  treatment  of  the  sick  jioor. 

The  most  comprehensive  and  economical  method  of  administration 
of  medical  charities  in  any  large  communitj'  is  through  the  advantage 
and  opportunities  offered  by  a  general  public  hospital,  which  can  be 
supplied  with  all  necessary  medical  and  surgical  appliances  and  ap- 
purtenances, w'hich  is  open  and  free  to  the  admission  of  the  sick  poor 
of  all  classes,  creeds,  and  nationalities,  and  in  which  all  forms  of  dis- 
ease and  injury  can  be  treated  by  comjietent  physicians,  whose  services 
can  be  obtained  without  pecuniary  compensation. 

In  this,  as  in  every  large  community,  there  are  many  deserving 
poor  whose  current  resources  are  wholly  inadequate  to  supply  the 
necessities  and  to  defray  the  expenses  of  any  protracted  illness. 
Lamentable  illustrations  of  this  fact  are  constantly  presented.  The 
families  of  this  class  are,  perhaps,  as  frequently  reduced  to  actual 
want  aud  abject  pauperism  by  the  illness  of  a  father  or  mother  as  by 
inability  to  obtain  employment. 

In  this  District,  more  especially  in  the  city  of  Washington,  there  is 
a  very  large  floating  population,  which  is  domiciled  in  the  hotels, 
boarding-houses,  and  apartments.  In  none  of  them  can  the  sick, 
without  great  expense,  and  in  some  not  at  any  cost,  secure  the  ordi- 
nary comforts  of  a  sick-chamber,  a  suitable  dietary,  efiicient  nursing, 
and  adequate  medical  attention.  These  necessities  can  only  be  sujd- 
plied  by  a  general  hospital  which  offers  at  a  reasonable  cost  suitable 
apartments,  skilled  nursing,  proper  food,  and  the  choice  of  treatment 
by  the  regular  medical  staff,  or  by  a  legally  qualified  physician  of  the 
patient's  own  selection,  together  with  all  the  advantages  of  an  ample 
and  properly  equipped  pharmacy,  necessary  laboratories,  appliances, 
and  hygienic  care  and  police. 

There  is  no  institution  in  the  District  which  fulfils  the  foregoing 
requirements.  The  Columbia  Hospital  affords  accommodations  to 
females  suffering  from  diseases  peculiar  to  women.  It  is  governed  by 
a  Board  of  Directors,  under  the  provisions  of  a  charter  granted  by 
Congress,  aud  is  supported  by  annual  appropriations  out  of  the  rev- 
enues of  the  District  of  Columbia  and  funds  derived  from  pay  patients. 
The  Children's  Hospital  is  an  institution  devoted  exclusively  to  the 


PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES.  229 

"medical  and  surgical  treatment  of  children",  and  is  owned  and  gov- 
erned by  a  corporate  body  chartered  under  the  provisions  of  the  Act 
of  Congress  entitled  "An  act  to  provide  for  the  creation  of  corpora- 
tions in  the  District  of  Columbia."  It  is  supported  in  part  by  annuul 
appropriations  out  of  the  revenues  of  the  District.  The  Freedmen's 
Hospital  is  in  part  an  asylum,  but  mainly  a  hospital,  for  the  sick  of 
the  African  race.  It  is  owned  by  the  Howard  University  corporation, 
and  supported  by  the  General  Government. 

The  Alms  House  Hospital  is  owned,  governed,  and  suppoi'ted  by 
the  District  of  Columbia.  It  affords  accommodations,  in  a  badly 
constructed  and  improperly  located  building,  for  about  one  hundred 
and  fiftj'  patients,  in  which  the  vicious,  criminal,  vagrant,  and  a  few 
deserving  jjaupers  are  promiscuously  commingled  as  one  class.  The 
Providence  Hospital  is  owned  and  governed  by  the  Sisters  of  Charity. 
It  was  built  out  of  moneys  appropriated  by  Congress.  It  is  supported 
by  its  own  i-evenue,  a  part  of  which  is  derived  under  contract,  from 
the  annual  appropriation  by  Congress  (fifteen  thousand  dollars)  for 
the  maintenance  of  the  transient  sick  paupers.  "  To  the  public 
wards  "  (see  Annual  Report,  1881,  p.  8)  "  patients  are  admitted  on  the 
order  of  the  Surgeon-General  of  the  United  States  Army,  where  they 
receive  every  care  and  attention.  There  are  also  private  wards  and 
rooms,  into  which  j^atients  are  admitted  on  payment  of  six,  ten, 
fifteen,  or  twenty  dollars  per  week." 

In  another  paragraph  of  the  same  report  it  is  stated  that  with  an 
"  outlay  of  about  twenty-five  thousand  dollars  for  an  additional  wing 
all  the  advantages  and  accommodations  of  a  general  hospital  could 
be  obtained." 

Of  these  institutions  the  Providence  Hospital  approaches  nearest 
the  character  of  a  general  hospital ;  but,  as  is  shown  by  the  above  quo- 
tation, its  management  admits  its  lack  of  the  advantages  and  accom- 
modations of  such  an  institution.  It  is  also  shown  that  it  is  a  pay 
hospital,  admitting  to  the  public  wards,  under  contract,  the  transient 
sick  paupers,  and  to  the  private  wards  and  rooms  upon  payment  of  a 
sum  varying  according  to  the  accommodations.  The  undersigned 
therefore  reiterate  the  statement  that  ther^  is  no  institution  in  this 
city  fulfilling  the  requirements  and  offering  the  advantages  of  a  public 
general  hospital.  They  aver,  also,  that  there  is  no  hospital  in  this 
District  into  which  a  deserving  poor  white  man  or  woman,  unless  she 
is  afflicted  with  some  disease  peculiar  to  her  sex,  can  find  accommo- 
dations excejit  upon  payment  of  a  weekly  board,  or  submit  to  condi- 
tions which  should  not  be  imposed  upon  that  class.  This  is  true,  not- 
withstanding the  fact  that  the  General  Government  and  the  District 
of  Columbia  expend  annually  the  sum  of  seventy  thousand  dollars  in 


230 


PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES. 


support  of  hospitals,  exclusive  of  the  Alms  House  Hospital.  A  large 
part  of  this  sum  is  disbursed  in  the  payment  of  large  salaries  (Freed- 
men's  and  Columbia  Hospitals)  to  the  medical  officers.  The  hospital 
accommodations  are  also  inadequate  to  the  wants  of  the  community, 
and  there  is  an  absence  of  any  system  regulating  and  governing  the 
administration  of  medical  charities  in  this  District. 

In  view  of  the  foregoing  considerations  the  undersigned  appeal  to 
all  whom  it  may  concern  for  such  aid  and  encouragement  to  the  Gar- 
field Memorial  Hospital  as  may  secure  the  establishment  and  j^erma- 
nent  endowment  of  an  institution  that  will  fulfil  all  the  requirements 
of  a  public  general  hospital. 


N.  Young,  M.D. 
James  A.  Beale,  M.D. 
S.  O.  Richey,  M.D. 
Samuel  S.  Adams,  M.D. 
Chas.  E.  Hagner,  M.D. 
T.  E.  McArdle,  M.D. 
Alex.  Y.  P.  Garnett,  M.D. 
John  B.  Hamilton,  M.D. 
Wm.  Lee,  M.D. 

F.  A.  Ashford,  M.D. 
S.  J.  RadcifFe.  M.D. 
Geo.  Byrd  Harrison,  M.D. 
L.  W.  Clapp.  M.D. 
Harvey  Lindsly,  M.D. 
Wm.  G.  Palmer,  M.D. 

J.  M.  Toner,  M.D. 

W.  W.  Johnston.  M.D. 

S.  C.  Busey,  M.D. 

J.  Ford  Thompson,  M.D. 

H.  D.  Fry,  M.D. 

M.  G.  Ellzey,  M.D. 

J.  W.  H.  Lovejoy,  M.D. 

D.  Webster  Prentiss,  M.D. 

D.  P.  Wolhaupter,  M.D. 

G.  P.  Fenwick,  M.D. 
D.  H.  Hazen.  M.D. 
F.  B.  Loring.  M.D. 
Frank  Hyatt,  M.D. 
Lewis  E.  Newton,  M.D. 
Geo.  S.  King,  M.D. 
Swan  M   Burnett.  M.D. 
Thos.  Robinson.  M.D. 


W.  V.  B.  Bogan,  M.D. 
J.  Wells  Herbert,  M.D. 
W.  L.  Naylor,  M.D. 
Samuel  S.  Bond,  M.D. 
Nathan  S.  Lincoln,  M.D, 
George  N.  Acker,  M.D, 
Thos.  C.  Smith,  M.D. 
C.  H.  A.  Kleinschmidt, 
A.  Patze.  M.D. 
M.  V.  Marmion,  M.D. 

C.  W.  Franzoni,  M.D. 

D.  C.  Patterson,  M.D. 
L.  V.  Dovilliers,  M.D. 

E.  C.  Merrian.  M.D. 
W.  F.  Byrns,  M.D. 
G.  Wythe  Cook.  M.D. 

A.  C.  Adams,  M.D 

E.  M.  Schaeflfer,  M.D. 
Jas.  T.  Sothoron,  M.D. 

B.  B.  Adams,  M.D. 
L.  M.Taylor,  M.D. 
D.  B.  Street,  M.D. 
W.  Evans,  M.D. 

J.  T.  Howard,  M.D. 
Geo,  Latimer,  M.D. 
M.  P.  Adams,  M.D. 
John  T.  Winter,  M.D. 
John  R.  Menke,  M.D. 
A.  Behrend,  M.D. 
J.  A.  Tarkington,  M.D. 
A.  A.  Marsteller,  M.D. 

C.  A.  Ball,  M  D. 


M.D. 


PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES.  231 

David  Blair,  M.D.  S.  W.  Bogan,  M.D. 

Thos.  Antisell,  M.D.  R.  G.  Mauss,  M.D. 

J.  L.  Suddarth,  M.D.  Thos.  F.  Gibbs,  M.D. 

Parke  G.  Young,  M.D.  C.  T.  Caldwell.  M.D. 

E.  A.  Sellhausen,  M.D.  W.  H.  N.  Newman,  M.D. 

Theo.  Mead,  M.D.  Geo.  C.  Ober,  M.D. 

Henderson  Suter,  M.D.  C.  V.  Boarman,  ]\r.D. 

Louis  Mackall,  M.D.  C.  M.  Hammett,  M.D. 

Nathan  E.  Rice,  M.D.  Hamilton  E.  Leach,  M.D 

Wm.  Nicholson,  M.D.  Harrison  Crook,  M.D. 
G.  W.  West,  M.D. 

The  resolution  passed  by  the  Society  and  the  memorial 
signed  by  eighty-five  physicians  committed  the  profession  as 
a  body  to  the  support  of  the  hospital,  and  were  mainly  instru- 
mental in  securing  the  favorable  report  of  the  committee  of 
the  House  of  Representatives  on  the  District  of  Columbia 
on  the  bill  to  enable  the  "  Trustees  of  the  National  Soldiers' 
and  Sailors'  Orphans'  Home "  to  transfer  their  property  to 
the  Garfield  Memorial  Hospital.  In  fact,  it  is  more  than 
probable  that  without  the  influence  of  the  profession  as  thus 
expressed  the  enabling  act  could  not  have  been  passed  ;  and  it 
is  quite  certain  that  without  the  acquisition  of  that  valuable 
property  the  establishment  of  the  hospital  would  have  been 
long  delayed,  and  most  probably  not  accomplished  at  all. 

On  July  10,  1882  {Congressional  Record,  vol.  xiii.,  part  6, 
Forty-seventh  Congress,  First  Session,  p.  5856),  Mr.  Xeal, 
Chairman  of  the  Committee  on  the  District  of  Columbia, 
reported  the  bill  as  follows : 

I  am  instructed  by  the  Committee  on  the  District  of  Columbia  to 
report  back  with  a  favorable  recommendation  the  bill  (H.  R.  No.  6702) 
to  authorize  the  transfer  of  the  property  of  the  National  Soldiers'  and 
Sailors'  Orphans'  Home  to  the  Garfield  Memorial  Hospital,  and  to 
ask  for  its  consideration  at  this  time. 

Be  it  enacted,  etc..  That  the  Board  of  Trustees  of  the  National  Sol- 
diers' and  Sailors'  Orphans'  Home  of  the  District  of  Columbia  are 
hereby  empowered  to  transfer  and  convey  all  the  property,  real,  per- 
sonal, and  mixed,  of  the  said  National  Soldiei-s'  and  Sailors'  Orphans' 
Home  to  the  Garfield  Memorial  Hospital,  located  in  said  District ; 


232  PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES. 

and  the  said  Garfield  Memorial  Hospital  is  hereby  empowered  to  sell 
and  convey  the  same,  and  apply  the  proceeds  to  the  object  for  which 
it  was  incorporated. 

The  bill  as  reported  was  adopted  with  the  following  amend- 
ment : 

Provided,  That  this  act  shall  not  be  construed  to  make  the  United 
States  liable  in  any  way  on  account  of  said  transfer  or  the  change  of 
the  direction  of  the  trust. 

During  the  consideration  of  the  bill  Mr.  "Paramount" 
Blount,  its  malicious  opponent  in  the  House  of  Representa- 
tives, drew  from  his  pocket  and  had  read  by  the  Clerk  the 
following  protest  (Ibid.,  p.  5857) : 

A  publication  bearing  the  signatures  of  a  number  of  medical  gen- 
tlemen has  recently  appeared  in  the  daily  press  of  this  city.  Certain 
statements  therein  made  are  calculated  to  mislead,  and  are  dispi'oved 
by  the  following  facts : 

First.  The  sick  poor  of  all  classes,  creeds,  and  nationalities  resid- 
ing in  the  District  of  Columbia  now  have  provided  ample  hospital 
accommodations  where  they  can  gratuitously  receive  kind  attention 
and  skilful  treatment. 

Second.  For  the  "  large  floating  population  which  is  domiciled  in 
the  hotels,  boarding-houses,  and  apartments  "  existing  hospitals  pro- 
vide accommodations,  meeting  every  want,  at  a  reasonable  cost. 

Third.  Any  "  deserving  poor  white  man  or  woman  "  in  the  District 
of  Columbia  can  secure  jsroper  hosjjital  accommodations  and  treat- 
ment without  being  subjected  to  conditions  that  should  not  be  im- 
posed upon  them. 

The  hospitals  affording  the  above-mentioned  accommodations  indi- 
cate by  their  names  their  wide  field  of  usefulness. 

The  Columbia  Hospital  for  women  provides  all  that  is  necessary 
for  the  treatment  of  special  diseases  of  female  pay  or  pauper  patients. 
The  Children's  Hospital  is  an  institution  exclusively  devoted  to  the 
medical  and  surgical  treatment  of  children,  and  provides  all  needed 
accommodations  for  such  patients.  St.  Ann's  Infancy  Asylum  accom- 
modates all  destitute  infants  left  to  its  care.  The  Freedmen's  Hos- 
pital is  "  mainly  a  hospital  for  the  sick  of  the  African  race,  but  is 
open  to  white  patients,  and  is  satisfactorily  fulfilling  its  mission." 
The  Alms  House  Hospital  accommodates  a  class  that  drifts  into  such 


PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES.  233 

institutions.  The  Emergency  Hospital,  located  near  the  centre  of 
the  city,  is  prepared  to  attend  accidents  and  emergencies.  Provi- 
dence Hospital,  under  the  charge  of  the  Sisters  of  Charity,  has  public 
wards  to  which  free  jiaticnts  arc  admitted,  and  private  wards  and 
rooms  for  pay  patients  at  rates  ranging  from  six  dollars  to  twenty 
dollars  per  week.  It  receives  an  appropriation  from  Congress  for  the 
maintenance  of  transient  sick  paupers  admitted  upon  the  order  of  the 
Surgeon-General,  United  States  Army.  Resident  pauper  patients  are 
admitted  at  the  request  of  the  sanitary  officer — metropolitan  police — 
a  request  that  is  never  refused. 

It  is  thus  seen  that  Providence  Hospital  cares  for  all  the  sick  poor, 
transient  and  resident,  who  apply  for  treatment,  "  and  there  is  no 
distinction  made  on  account  of  creed,  nationality,  or  color." 

The  above  statement,  and  the  additional  fact  that  the  capacity  of 
the  hospitals  heretofore  mentioned  has  always  exceeded  the  demand, 
must  make  it  plain  to  the  observant  that  the  hospital  accommodations 
of  the  District  of  Columbia  more  than  meet  all  present  requirements, 
and  that  while  separately  i^erforming  their  allotted  duties,  the  com- 
bined work  of  these  institutions  creates  a  general  hospital  in  its  best 
form,  a  condition  of  separation  which  accords  with  the  approved  laws 
of  hygiene. 

Should  the  future  demand  increased  accommodations,  it  will  be 
wiser  bj'  donations  and  appro]iriations  to  enlarge  the  powers  of  exist- 
ing organized  institutions  than  by  too  ambitious  and  hasty  action  run 
the  risk  of  creating  a  standing  bid  for  pauperism.  For  it  is  to  be 
feared  that  a  superabundance  of  hospitals  here  might  entice  a  class 
not  desired  by  our  citizens  or  legislature. 

Johnson  Eliot,  M.D.  Carroll  Morsran,  M.D. 

James  E.  Morgan,  M.D.  Ja's.  McV.  Mackall,  M.D. 

S.  A.  H.  McKim.  M.D.  Dan'l  J.  Kelly,  M.D. 

Ralph  Walsh,  M.D.  Thos.  N.  McLaughlin,  M.D. 

G.  L.  Magruder,  M.D.  Jas.  T.  Youn?.  M.D. 

Z.  T.  Sowers.  M  D.  Jno.  I.  Dyer.  M.D. 

John  AV.  Bayne,  M.D.  J.  S.  Harrison,  M.D. 

H.  H.  Barker,  M.V>.  C.  V.  N.  Callan,  M.D. 

Llewellyn  Eliot,  M.D.  P.  J.  Murphy.  M.D. 

L.  W.  Ritchie,  M  D.  H.  M.  Newman,  M.D. 

W.  G.  H.  Newman,  M.D.  Geo.  C.  Samson,  M.D. 

J.  F.  Hartigan,  M.D.  Jno.  Parsons.  M.D. 

J.  Walter,  M.D.  J.  O.  Stanton,  M.D. 

This  protest  had  been  prepared  with  o;reat  care,  and  had 
been  concealed  from  the  public  and  the  management  of  the 


234  PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES. 

Garfield  Hospital  until  it  was  suddenly  thrust  into  the  debate 
on  the  bill  in  the  House,  just  at  the  moment  when  its  most 
vindictive  opponent  believed  it  would  defeat  the  enabling  act. 
It  set  forth  in  very  emphatic  and  cogent  language  the  interests 
of  "  The  Providence  Hospital,"  and  equally  distinctly,  but 
erroneously,  intimated  that  the  efforts  to  establish  the  Garfield 
Memorial  Hospital  were  in  antagonism  to  that  institution.  It 
sought  to  eliminate  the  influence  of  the  Medical  Society  and 
of  the  eighty-five  physicians  by  misrepresenting  their  memo- 
rial, and  attempted  by  adroit  extracts  of  parts  of  sentences 
to  assail  the  veracity  of  the  eighty-five  memorialists.  To  it 
were  signed  the  names  of  twenty-six  physicians,  most  of 
whom  were  actively  engaged  in  practice,  and  several  were 
men  of  prominence  and  very  great  influence. 

With  such  formidable  opposition  success  would  have  been 
impossible  but  for  the  greater  and  more  widely  exercised  in- 
fluence of  the  profession  as  expressed  in  the  resolutions  and 
memorial,  which  were  published  in  the  local  press,  and,  in  the 
form  of  a  jjrinted  circular,  laid  upon  the  desk  of  every 
Senator  and  Member.  The  directory  must  have  appreciated 
the  significance  and  power  of  this  opposition  or  it  would  not 
have  attempted  to  conciliate  it,  with  doubtful  success,  however, 
by  the  election,  subsequently,  of  several  of  the  signers  of  the 
protest  to  positions  on  the  medical  staiF. 

The  following  transcript  from  the  records  fixes  the  dates  of 
the  passage  of  the  enabling  act  and  of  the  transfer  of  the 
property  to  the  Garfield  Memorial  Hospital : 

National  Soldiers'  and  \  Deed. 

Sailors'  Orphans'  Home  f  Dated  October  2,  1882. 

TO  (  Recorded  October  5,  1882. 

Garfield  Memorial  Hospital,  f  Liber  1016,  folio  195. 

Recites :  Whereas,  At  a  meeting  of  the  Board  of  Trustees  of  said 
Orphans'  Home,  held  on  the  2d  day  of  October  A.  D.  1882,  the  follow- 
ing resolution  was  adopted : 


PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES.  235 

Wliereas,  The  purpose  for  which  this  corporation  was  established  has 
been  accomplished,  and  the  trust  imposed  upon  it  has  been  executed, 
leaving  in  its  hands  certain  property,  and  it  is  eminently  proper  that 
the  same  should  be  ap]ilied  to  the  cause  of  charity  and  the  relief  of 
suffering  humanity ;  and 

Wliereas,  The  Garfield  Memorial  Hospital  appeals  to  our  sympathies 
and  judgment  as  the  worthiest  object,  and  by  Act  of  Congress  of  the 
United  States,  approved  August  8,  1882,  this  Board  was  empowered 
to  transfer  and  convey  all  the  property,  real,  personal,  and  mixed,  of 
the  said  Orphans'  Home  to  said  hospital. 

Resolved,  That  we  transfer  and  convey  all  property,  real,  personal,  and 
mixed,  of  said  National  Soldiers'  and  Sailors'  Orphans'  Home  to  said 
Garfield  Memorial  Hospital,  and  that  for  the  purpose  of  carrying  out 
this  transfer  and  conveyance,  D.  K.  Cartter,  President,  and  Marcellus 
Bailey,  Secretary  of  this  Board,  be,  and  they  are  hereby  authorized 
and  empowered  to  execute,  acknowledge,  and  deliver,  for  and  in  the 
name  of  said  National  Soldiers'  and  Sailors'  Orphans'  Home,  a  deed  or 
deeds  conveying  and  transferring  all  of  said  property  to  said  Garfield 
Memorial  Hosjiital,  and  ta  attach  the  corporate  seal  of  said  National 
Soldiers'  and  Sailors'  Orphans'  Home  to  said  deed  or  deeds,  and 
empowering  said  Hospital  to  sell,  convey,  transfer,  and  convert  the 
said  jjroperty  or  any  part  thereof  into  cash  at  its  option. 

In  testimony  whereof,  the  said  David  K.  Cartter,  President,  and 
Marcellus  Bailey,  Secretary,  authorized  by  virtue  of  a  resolution  as 
aforesaid,  have  hereunto  set  their  hands  and  affixed  the  seal  of  the 
said  National  Soldiers'  and  Sailors'  Orphans'  Home,  the  day  and  year 
first  hereinbefore  written. 

[orphan  home  seal.] 

(Signed)  D.  K.  Caetter, 

President. 
(Signed)  Marcellus  Bailey, 

Secretary. 
Acknowledged  before 

J.   D.   COUGHLAX, 

Notary  Public. 

Soou  after  the  record  of  the  deed  of  transfer  (October  5, 
1882)  the  Board  of  Incorporators  took  possession  of  the  real 
estate  and  held  their  meetings  in  the  "Wirt  House,"  1732  G 


236  PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES. 

Street,  N.  W.  At  one  of  the  early  meetings  after  that  date 
it  considered  and  adopted  a  plan  of  organization  of  the  hos- 
pital. 

In  the  plan  of  organization  and  By-laws,  as  then  adopted, 
and  published  in  pamphlet  form  in  1882,  Section  10  provides 
that 

At  a  special  meeting  to  be  held  on  the  second  Monday  in  May,  1883, 
said  incorporators  shall  elect  a  Board  of  Directors  of  fifteen  persons, 
four  of  whom  shall  be  practitioners  of  medicine,  who  shall  serve 
from  the  27th  day  of  May,  1883,  until  the  second  Monday  of  January, 
1884,  and  until  their  successors  are  chosen,  and  at  every  subsequent 
annual  meeting  said  incorporators  shall  elect  a  Board  of  Directors  of 
fifteen  persons,  four  of  whom  shall  be  practitioners  of  medicine,  who 
shall  serve  one  year  and  until  their  successors  are  chosen. 

In  the  same  plan  of  organization  paragraph  7  of  Section 
17  read  as  follows: 

One  ward  in  the  hospital  shall  be  appropriated  to  the  homoeopathic 
treatment  for  such  patients  as  desire  it,  and  the  Directors  shall  pro- 
vide for  that  purpose. 

The  adoption  of  this  clause  against  the  protest  and  over  the 
votes  of  the  medical  members  present,  aroused  the  opposition 
and  open  hostility  of  many  of  its  most  conspicuous  supporters 
among  the  profession  at  large,  and  threatened  for  a  time,  not 
only  the  success  of  the  enterprise,  but,  Avhat  was  even  worse, 
to  effect  its  transfer  to  the  homoepathists.  Dr.  Toner  promptly 
indicated  his  purpose  to  resign,  and  very  soon  after  did  resign. 
Dr.  Palmer  rose  to  tender  his  resignation,  but  I  checked  him, 
and  he  resumed  his  seat  with  voluble  indignation.  Ashford 
and  myself  remained  quiet. 

The  adoption  of  paragraph  7  soon  became  widely  known, 
and  the  enemies  of  the  institution,  and  a  number  of  the 
profession,  as  has  been  shown  (p.  233),  who  w^ere  hostile  to 
it,  seized  the  fact,  and  with  alacrity  proclaimed  it  as  the 
proof  of  our  failure,  and  with  significant  inuuendo  added 
that  we  were  engaged  in  an  enterprise  which  would  culminate 


PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES.  237 

in  accomplishing  for  tlie  homoeopath ists  what  they  conld  not 
do  for  themselves.  They  were  not  content  to  "laugh  in  their 
sleeves,"  but  laughed  to  scorn  at  the  uncomfortable  dilemma 
of  those  of  the  profession  M'ho  had  given  support  to  the  pro- 
ject, and  became  so  bold  and  joyous  in  the  ecstasy  of  their 
delight  as  to  taunt  and  jeer  with  derisive  sport  and  laughter. 

After  consultation  with  some  of  the  most  judicious  of  our 
professional  coadjutors,  Dr.  Ashford  and  myself  determined 
to  remain  quiet  and  await  the  evolution  of  events.  In  view 
of  the  fact  that  the  property  of  the  Soldiers'  and  Sailors' 
Orphans'  Home  had  been  transferred  to  the  "  Garfield  Memorial 
Hospital/'  we  could  not  retire  without  complete  abandonment 
of  the  hospital  and  leaving  it  in  possession  of  the  small 
majority  that  had  forced  paragraph  7  into  the  By-laws. 

For  a  period  the  routine  of  business  proceeded  without 
interruption.  The  committees  continued  to  solicit  contribu- 
tions and  to  advance  the  interest  of  the  hospital  with  com- 
mendable industry  and  good  judgment. 

At  a  meeting  of  the  incorporators,  held  December  11,  1882, 
Dr.  John  S.  Billings  was  elected  to  fill  a  vacancy.  At  the 
meeting  succeeding  his  election,  February  19,  1883,  he  made 
a  motion  to  revise  the  By  laws  by  striking  out  many  of  the 
sections  and  paragraphs  and  altering  others.  The  motion  as 
made  by  him  was  passed  (February  19,  1883)  without  much 
opposition.  The  revision  eliminated  paragraph  7,  to  which 
reference  has  been  made,  and  retained  Section  10  (cited  on 
p.  236),  but  numbered  it  9,  as  it  appears  in  the  pamphlet 
publication  (1883)  of  the  "  Charter  and  By-laws  of  the  Gar- 
field Memorial  Hospital."  This  triumph  was  as  complete  as 
it  was  unexpected,  and  immediately  restored  confidence.  The 
profession  at  large  returned  to  the  sup])ort  of  the  enterprise 
with  marked  enthusiasm. 

To  Surgeon  Billings  honor,  praise,  and  gratitude  are  due 
from  the  management  as  from  the  medical  profession  of  this 
District.  His  election  to  the  directorship  was  the  turning- 
point  at  the  critical  moment  of  its  history,  and  stayed  the 


238  PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES. 

influences  leading  to  discontent,  controversy,  disappointment, 
and  failure,  and  restored  the  institution  to  the  course  and  pur- 
pose fostered  by  its  projectors  and  founders. 

Ashford  died  May  19,  1883.  On  May  21,  1883,  a  motion 
was  made  to  repeal  Sec.  9  of  the  revised  By-laws,  or  at  least 
so  much  of  it  as  required  that  "four"  of  the  fifteen  directors 
should  be  "  practitioners  of  medicine."  This  amendment 
was  adopted  May  31,  1883.  Immediately  thereafter  (May 
31,  1883)  the  incorporators  selected  the  first  board  of  fifteen 
directors,  of  which  but  one  was  a  "  practitioner  of  medicine  " 
in  the  District  of  Columbia.  Dr.  John  S.  Billings,  Surgeon 
of  United  States  Army,  was  elected  a  director  at  the  same 
time,  and  has  been  successively  re-elected  ever  since.  I  was 
a  member  of  the  Executive  Committee,  one  of  the  incorpor- 
ators, a  member  of  the  Board  of  Incorporators  under  Sec.  4 
of  the  Charter;  was  elected  a  director  in  May,  1883,  and 
re-elected  in  1884  for  the  succeeding  year.  Since  the  annual 
election  of  1885  the  profession  of  the  District  of  Columbia 
has  not  had  any  representative  on  the  Board  of  Directors  of 
the  Garfield  Memorial  Hospital. 

Of  the  original  "six  practitioners  of  medicine"  of  the  Ex- 
ecutive Committee  as  appointed  by  Mr.  Justice  Miller,  and 
on  the  Board  of  Incorporators,  under  Sec.  4  of  the  charter, 
three  have  either  died  or  resigned,  and  the  vacancies  have 
been  filled  by  the  election  of  two  laymen  and  one  practitioner 
of  medicine,  so  that  at  the  present  time  there  are  but  four 
"practitioners  of  medicine"  and  Surgeon  Billings  named 
among  the  incorporators,  and  not  one  of  the  four  practi- 
tioners on  the  directory. 

The  death  of  Ashford  and  the  abrogation  of  that  provision 
of  the  By-laws  which  guaranteed  to  the  local  profession  a  share 
in  the  management  of  the  hospital,  of  which  he  was  the  autlior, 
were  somethinoj  more  than  a  coincidence.  It  was  one  of  those 
significant  occurrences,  so  impatient  to  accomplish  its  purposes, 
that  it  could  not  await  the  burial  of  his  body  before  disclosing 
the  animus  of  broken  faith. 


PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES.  239 

Before  the  earth  over  his  remains  had  settled  the  incor- 
porators of  an  institution  which  he  had  originated  and  founded 
proceeded  to  obliterate  the  last  testimony  of  his  indomitable 
will  and  energy. 

In  the  last  revision  of  the  By-laws  of  the  incorporators 
(1894)  the  following  regulations  appear  : 

Sec.  12.  The  incorijorators  at  their  regular  meeting  in  January  of 
each  year  shall  elect  five  directors,  who  shall  serve  for  three  years, 
and  until  their  successors  are  chosen. 

Sec.  28.  The  directors  shall  provide  a  medical  staff  for  the  hospital. 

Sec  34.  Amendments  of  these  By-laws  shall  only  be  made  by  a 
two-thirds  vote  of  the  incorporators  present,  notice  of  the  same  hav- 
ing been  given  one  week  before  action  thereon. 

By  Rules  7  and  14,  adopted  by  the  Board  of  Directors 
February  5,  1894,  for  the  management  of  the  hospital,  a 
"  Medical  Staff"  and  a  "  House  Staff"  are  provided  for,  each 
person  composing  either  of  the  staff  "to  serve  for  one  year  or 
until  a  successor  is  chosen." 

These  By-laws  and  Rules  create  a  "ring  within  a  ring" — 
a  perpetual  oligarchy,  which  can  never  be  disturbed  except  by 
vote  of  two-thirds,  which  can  never  be  obtained  but  with  the 
consent,  in  whole  or  in  part,  of  the  exclusive  class  that  con- 
stitutes the  oligarchy.  An  oligarchy  of  fifteen  can  always 
prevent  a  two-thirds  vote  of  thirty-seven,^  the  limit  of  the 
number  of  the  corporators,  and  can  thereby  perpetuate  ex- 
clusive power  and  control  of  the  management  of  the  hospital. 
This  result  is  inevitable,  even  if  the  presence  of  the  thirty- 
seven  incorporators  could  be  secured,  and  every  absentee 
noif  one  of  themselves  increases  the  voting  power  of  the 
oligarchy. 

If  at  any  time  a  majority  of  the  thirty-seven  incorporators 
should  determine  to  acquire  control  of  the  management,  it 

1  The  original  act  of  incorporation  contains  the  names  of  thirty-seven  persons;  the 
amended  act  of  June,  1SS4,  contains  thirty-six  names,  and  the  Twelfth  Annual  Re- 
port of  1S94  but  thirty-three.  In  the  last  list  of  incorporators  the  names  of  five 
physicians,  including  Surgeon  Billings,  are  enrolled,  four  belonging  to  the  class 
denominated  "practitioners  of  medicine." 


240  PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES. 

would  require  uiue  years  to  change  the  directory  and  six 
years  to  obtain  a  majority  of  the  Board  of  Directors.  It  is 
then  evident  that  tlie  double  ring  and  "ring  within  a  ring" 
management  have  securely  intrenched  themselves  behind  legis- 
lation that  is  practically  irrepealable  without  consent  of  the 
oligarchy. 

The  wisdom  and  expediency  of  such  legislation  are  con- 
siderations of  public  interest  as  well  as  of  private  judgment, 
upon  which  persons  equally  wise  and  discreet  may  diifer. 
There  is,  however,  no  difference  of  opinion  among  the  pro- 
fession in  regard  to  its  exclusion  from  any  share  in  the  man- 
agement of  a  medical  charity  which  could  not  have  been 
founded  without  its  support  and  co-operation. 

In  the  last  revision  of  the  Rules  for  the  management  of  the 
hospital  (1894)  the  following  concession  is  made: 

Patients  (page  21,  Sec.  35)  occupying  private  rooms  shall  be  en- 
titled to  receive  the  professional  services  of  the  resident  physician 
without  extra  charge,  but  shall  have  no  claim  upon  the  services  of 
the  attending  medical  officers  without  proper  compensation,  as  may 
be  agreed  upon  in  each  instance. 

This  is  an  important  regulation,  but  lacks  the  full  measure 
of  right  and  justice  to  which  the  medical  officers  are  entitled, 
in  that  it  aifords  the  opportunity  to  escape  the  payment  of 
proper  compensation  by  offering  the  gratuitous  services  of 
the  resident  physician. 

I  disclaim  any  purpose  to  criticise  the  management  of  the 
hospital,  except  so  far  as  it  relates  to  the  broken  faith  with 
the  profession  of  this  District.  I  am  not  in  possession  of  any 
information  that  would  justify  any  attack  upon  the  ordinary 
routine  busiuess  and  methods  of  its  management,  nor  to  depre- 
cate its  success  as  a  hospital  for  the  treatment  and  care  of  the 
sick  and  injured.  It  has  my  best  wishes  for  its  continued 
prosperity  and  enlarged  usefulness. 

The  two  special  hospitals — the  Hospital  for  Sick  Children 
and  the  Columbia  Hospital  and  Lying-in  Asylum — owe  their 


PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES.  241 

foundations  and  permanent  establishment  and  success  to  the 
co-operation,  influence,  and  bounty  of  members  of  the  medical 
profession.  It  must  not,  however,  be  forgotten  that  to  the 
laity  of  both  sexes  much  credit  is  due,  and  the  present  high 
standing  of  these  institutions  must  be  credited  to  the  enthusi- 
asm and  liberality  of  the  ladies  and  gentlemen  who  have  been 
directly  and  indirectly  associated  with  the  management. 

This  chapter  has  been  written  in  the  interest  of  the  medical 
profession  of  the  District  of  Columbia,  to  set  forth,  upon  the 
basis  of  historical  data,  the  fact  that  in  every  movement  to 
provide  suitable  hospital  accommodations  in  this  District  some 
one  or  more  members  of  that  profession  has  originated  and 
taken  the  lead  in  the  enterprise ;  and  to  show,  equally  con- 
clusively, that  to  the  same  profession  every  such  establishment 
owes  its  success  and  usefulness.  I  will  go  further,  and  assert 
that  every  failure,  as  previously  cited,  is  attributable  to  the 
absence  or  lack  of  support  and  co-operation  on  the  part  of  the 
community  and  authorities.  Xay,  more,  I  will  add  the  state- 
ment, and  leave  the  verdict  of  right  or  wrong  to  the  jury  of 
my  peers,  that  most,  if  not  all,  of  the  disputes,  disturbances, 
and  collisions  w^iich  have  occurred  between  the  medical  staffs 
and  officers  and  the  lay  majorities  of  the  management  of  medi- 
cal charities  in  this  city  have  been  due  to  the  attempts,  usually 
successful,  of  the  lay  majorities  to  cripple  or  exclude  the 
influence  and  power  of  the  profession  in  the  management, 
and  to  force  the  medical  staffs  into  humiliatiug  dependency 
upon  their  unstable  will.  No  hospital  ever  succeeded  and 
none  can  continue  in  operation  w^ithout  the  aid  and  co-opera- 
tion of  physicians ;  and  the  fact  is  demonstrated  beyond  dis- 
pute that  private  hospitals,  from  which  are  excluded  the 
semblance  or  even  pretence  of  lay  management,  are  the  most 
successful  so  far  as  concerns  tlie  health  and  lives  of  the  in- 
mates. The  better  results  obtained  in  private  hospitals  is  not 
only  a  refutation  of  the  claims  of  lay  directories  of  the  supe- 
riority of  their  management,  but  is  proof  of  its  inhumanity. 
No  one  ought  to  deny  that  the  fiscal  affairs  of  such  institutions 

16 


242  PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES. 

can  be  properly  managed  by  laymen,  and  it  is  undoubtedly  true 
that  the  active  co-operation  of  laymen  is  always  an  important 
and  most  often  the  essential  factor  in  the  successful  financial 
management  of  public  medical  charities.  A  mixed  directory 
with  a  majority  of  laymen  is  preferable  to  one  exclusively 
professional  or  lay. 

It  must,  furthermore,  be  admitted  that  too  frequently  the 
harmonious  co-operation  of  the  lay  and  medical  members  of 
mixed  directories  have  been  interrupted  by  professional  jeal- 
ousies and  contentions,  and  that  medical  men  not  connected 
with  the  institution,  but  seeking  place,  have  inspired  antagon- 
isms, sometimes  to  gratify  a  malevolent  spirit  and  at  other 
times  to  promote  their  own  interests. 

The  profession  has  not,  however,  been  blameless.  It  has 
not  as  a  body  asserted  its  prerogative,  and  has  far  too  often 
submitted  to  the  aggressions  of  lay  majorities  of  the  manage- 
ment without  remonstrance.  The  esprit  de  corps  of  the 
profession  has  been  wanting  in  that  high  standard  of  com- 
radeship which  makes  a  common  cause  of  wrongs  and  injuries 
inflicted  upon  medical  staffs  and  officers,  and  when  any  such 
have  resigned  rather  than  submit  to  the  insults  and  indignities 
oifered  them  the  ruling  majorities  have  found  others  more 
willing  to  accept  their  snubs  than  lose  the  opportunities  of 
place.  There  is  no  rule  or  principle  of  medical  ethics  that 
defends  or  upholds  wrongdoing,  nor  is  it  contended  that  medi- 
cal men  are  any  better  than  mankind  in  general ;  but  medical 
men  are  better  physicians  than  lay  directors,  and  must  be 
better  qualified  to  discharge  all  duties  pertaining  to  the  treat- 
ment and  management  of  the  patients,  and  to  make  and  en- 
force the  rules  and  regulations  relating  to  the  same.  No  body 
of  medical  men  has  ever  claimed  that  a  majority  of  the  direc- 
tory of  any  medical  charity  should  be  physicians,  but  the 
great  majority  of  the  profession  does  claim  a  fair  representa- 
tion upon  every  such  directory.  It  is  claimed  not  as  a  con- 
cession, subject  to  the  unstable  and  sinister  will  of  conceited 


PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES.  243 

laymen,  but  as  a  vested  right  not  to  be  questioned  by  captious 
and  unreasonable  men. 

The  time  has  come  here  and  elsewhere,  throughout  the 
length  and  breadth  of  the  land,  when  the  medical  profession 
as  a  body  should  assert  itself,  and  contest  with  all  the  power 
which  such  a  body  of  educated  men  could  exercise  the  en- 
croachments and  aggressions  of  the  laity,  and  especially  of 
legislative  bodies.  The  highest  and  beneficent  aim  of  the 
science  of  medicine  is  the  eradication  of  preventable  diseases. 
The  accomplishment  of  this  purpose  is  far  above  mercenary 
and  commercial  considerations,  the  office  tenure  of  political 
charlatans,  and  partisan  success  of  men  in  high  places,  who 
are  in  open  hostility  to  the  progress  of  medical  science.  The 
medical  profession  of  this  country  is  far  superior  to  any  other 
body  of  equal  number  in  intellectual,  educational,  and  scien- 
tific acquirements  and  general  information.  It  possesses  op- 
portunities immeasurably  greater  than  any  other  class  of  edu- 
cated men  to  impress  upon  the  great  mass  of  the  body  politic  its 
will  and  prerogatives.  There  is  not  one  household,  one  family, 
or  one  voter  in  all  the  laud  that  some  one  of  the  profession 
cannot  reach  and  tell  the  story  of  the  wrongs  and  injustice 
inflicted  upon  mankind  in  general  by  the  sensational  antagon- 
ism of  the  ignorant  and  fanatical  laity  and  adverse  and  ag- 
gressive legislation.  As  a  body  it  must  and  eventually  will 
unite  in  the  assertion  of  its  prerogatives  and  dominate  public 
opinion  in  all  matters  pertaining  to  the  prevention  and  cure 
of  disease  and  progress  of  scientific  medicine.  The  charlatan, 
be  he  a  director  or  legislator,  a  governor  or  a  senator,  will 
be  compelled  to  recognize  truth  in  science  and  accept  its 
teachings. 

In  a  recent  editorial  of  The  Medical  News  (December  22, 
1894,  page  696)  the  editor  concludes  with  the  emphatic 
statement  that: 

The  progress  of  medicine  is  of  the  utmost  importance  to  the  com- 
munity, and  laymen  are  not  fit  judges  of  the  methods  of  the  out- 
working of  that  progress.      The  growing  spirit  of   dictation   and 


244  PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES 

arrogance  on  the  part  of  self-constituted  lay  judges  must  be  met  by 
the  voice  of  the  whole  profession  in  asserting  that  in  medical  matters 
pertaining  to  hospital  management  the  decision  shall  rest  with  medi- 
cal men. 

The  News  is  one  of  the  most  popular  medical  journals  pub- 
lished in  this  country,  and,  presumably,  represents  the  popu- 
lar sentiment  of  the  profession.  Its  well-timed  and  deliberate 
protest  is  very  significant,  and  calls  attention  to  a  grievance 
which  can  be  abated  only  by  such  unity  of  action  as  will 
assert  and  enforce  the  prerogative  of  the  profession. 


CHAPTER  XIII. 

The  Disturbances  of  1869-72.  Admission  of  Physicians  of  African  Descent 
to  Membership  in  the  Medical  Society  of  the  District  of  Columbia. 
Attempt  to  Eepeal  the  Charter  of  the  Medical  Society  of  the  District 
of  Columbia.  Appeal  to  the  American  Medical  Association.  Final 
Settlement  by  the  Decisive  Action  of  the  American  Medical  Asso- 
ciation at  Philadelphia  in  1872. 

The  disturbance  which  began  in  1869  and  terminated  in 
1872  was  the  most  angry,  turbulent,  and  widespread  of  any 
that  has  occurred.  It  grew  out  of  the  attempts  of  a  small 
minority  of  the  membership  to  force  the  admission  of  phy- 
sicians of  African  descent  into  the  Medical  Society  of  the 
District  of  Columbia. 

In  setting  forth  the  history  of  this  imbroglio  I  will  confine 
myself  to  the  collation  and  arrangement  of  the  facts  of  record 
in  the  Transactions  of  the  Medical  Society  of  the  District  of 
Columbia  and  of  the  American  3Iedical  Association;  and,  to 
avoid  repetition,  will  reserve  comment  until  the  historical 
data  have  been  fully  and  fairly  transcribed,  as  nearly  as  pos- 
sible in  the  order  of  occurrence. 

There  will,  of  course,  be  omissions  of  many  current  inci- 
dents, and,  perhaps,  fortunately  so,  as  they  could  only  be 
stated  from  memory,  and,  as  they  would  more  especially  relate 
to  the  personal  aspects  of  the  controversy,  no  good  purpose 
could  be  accomplished  by  the  revival  of  personal  criminations 
and  recriminations  which  characterized  that  disturbance  and 
aroused  so  much  bad  feeling.  The  record  is  sufficiently  full 
to  enable  the  reader  to  understand  clearly  the  history  of  that 
unhappy  period. 

In  March,  1869,  the  applications  of  Drs.  Purvis,  Augusta, 
and  Tucker  for  admission  to  membership  in  the  Medical 


246  PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES. 

Society  of  the  District  of  Columbia  were  rejected  by  a  decisive 
majority.  In  consequence  of  this  action  of  the  large  majority 
a  coterie  of  the  small  minority  of  members,  with  others  not 
members,  and  some  active  partisan  laymen,  united  in  an  organ- 
ized effort  to  effect  the  repeal  of  the  charter  of  the  Society. 
The  methods  adopted  by  them  and  the  bitterness  with  which 
they  prosecuted  their  purpose  will  appear  further  on. 

To  protect  itself  from  the  aggressions  of  the  hostile  faction, 
and  to  prevent  the  surprise  of  a  packed  meeting,  at  which  it 
might  be  possible  for  an  objectionable  applicant  to  secure  an 
election,  the  Society  proceeded  so  to  revise  its  rules  and  regu- 
lations in  regard  to  the  election  of  members  as  to  require  that 
applicants  for  membership  should  be  limited  to  those  who  had 
been  licentiates  for  one  year  preceding ;  that  all  applications 
should  be  in  writing,  and  made  only  at  the  stated  meeting  in 
January  or  July,  and  lie  over  for  three  months  before  con- 
sideration ;  and  that  an  election  should  require  a  favorable 
vote  of  three-fourths  of  the  members  present.  At  the  same 
time  it  created  a  Board  of  Censors,  to  which  all  applications 
should  be  referred  for  inquiry  into  the  qualifications  of  the 
licentiate  making  application.  This  revision  was  completed 
in  January,  1870.  It  so  effectively  guarded  the  election  of 
members  as  to  prevent  the  possibility  of  surprise  by  packing 
a  meeting  with  those  who  were  attempting  to  force  the  admis- 
sion of  applicants  who  were  objectionable  to  the  majority  of 
the  members.  It  established,  moreover,  a  policy  of  defiance 
of  the  efforts  of  the  hostile  faction  that  was  seeking  the  abro- 
gation of  the  charter. 

The  hostile  faction  was  composed  of  only  a  few  of  the  eleven 
members  who  had  from  the  beginning  voted  for  the  admission 
of  the  physicians  of  African  descent ;  most  of  them  co-oper- 
ated with  the  majority  in  perfecting  the  revision  and  in  the 
policy  and  methods  of  defiance  of  the  efforts  to  repeal  the 
charter. 

During  the  consideration  of  the  revision,  at  the  meeting 
held  January  3,  1870,  Dr.  Robert  Reyburn  was  permitted  to 


PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES.  247 

have  read    the   following  resolution,  which  was  not   enter- 
tained : 

Resolved,  That  no  physician  who  is  otherwise  eligible  should  be  ex- 
cluded from  membership  in  this  Society  on  account  of  race  or  color. 

After  the  completion  of  the  revision  of  the  constitution  the 
Society,  at  an  adjourned  stated  meeting,  January  12,  1870, 
adopted  and  ordered  to  be  published  the  following  explana- 
tion of  its  course  and  method  of  procedure  in  the  election  of 
members.  It  is  the  first  official  notice  of  the  assaults  made 
upon  it,  and  distinctly  arraigns  the  hostile  faction  for  misrep- 
resentation and  vituperation. 

January  12, 1870  (Adjourned  Stated  Meeting). 
AX   APPEAL. 

The  Medical  Society  of  the  District  of  Columbia,  which  has  existed 
in  the  community  for  more  than  half  a  century,  having  been  lately 
assailed,  and  a  resolution,  founded  upon  statements  evidently  derived 
from  sources  at  once  malicious  and  false,  having  been  introduced  into 
the  Senate  of  the  United  States  to  repeal  its  charter  in  the  following 
terms: 

"Resolved,  That  the  Committee  on  the  District  of  Columbia  be 
directed  to  consider  the  expediency  of  repealing  the  charter  of  the 
Medical  Society  of  the  District  of  Columbia,  and  of  such  other  legis- 
lation as  may  be  necessary  in  order  to  secure  for  medical  practitioners 
in  the  District  of  Columbia  equal  rights  and  opportunities  without 
distinction  of  color,"  this  Society  deems  it  respectful  and  due  to  its 
own  dignity  to  give  a  public  explanation  of  its  actions  in  order  that 
it  may  be  exonerated  in  the  opinion  of  all  just  men  from  the  charges 
which  have  been  brought  against  it  by  designing  and  interested 
enemies. 

It  has  been  charged  that  this  Society  has,  with  prejudice  and  a 
tyrannical  exercise  of  the  powers  conferred  on  it  by  its  charter, 
refused  to  certain  individuals  chartered  rights  which  they  could 
equitably  demand. 

The  falsity  of  this  charge  will  be  apparent  upon  an  examination  of 
the  provisions  of  the  charter. 

1.  The  charter  requires  that  the  Society  shall  elect  a  Board  of  Ex- 
aminers "  whose  dutv  it  shall  be  to  grant  licenses  to  such  medical  and 


248  PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES. 

chirurgical  gentlemen  as  they  may,  upon  a  full  examination,  judge 
qualified  to  practice  the  medical  and  chirurgical  arts,  or  as  may  pro- 
duce a  diploma  from  some  respectable  medical  college  or  society." 

2.  It  imposes  a  penalty  ujion  any  one  venturing  to  practice  without 
such  a  license. 

3.  It  forbids  the  society  in  anywise  to  regulate  the  practice  of  med- 
ical or  chirurgical  attendance  on  such  persons  as  may  need  those  ser- 
vices, or  to  establish  or  fix  a  tariff  of  charges  for  medical  attendance 
or  advice,  or  to  interfere  in  any  way  with  the  charges  or  fees  for  med- 
ical attendance  or  advice. 

4.  The  privilege  is  given  by  the  same  instrument  to  the  Society 
that  its  members  "  may  elect  into  their  body  such  medical  and  chi- 
rurgical practitioners  within  the  District  of  Columbia  as  they  may 
deem  qualified  to  become  members  of  the  Society." 

With  respect  to  the  first  of  these — that  is,  license  after  examina- 
tion— nearly  every  respectable  practitioner  of  medicine  who  has 
settled  in  this  District  desirous  of  fulfilling  the  requirements  of  the 
law  has  applied  for  and  received  the  license  from  the  Board  of  Exam- 
iners, and  in  no  case  has  this  license  been  refused  to  a  person  passing 
the  required  examination.  Even  the  colored  physicians  who  now 
complain  have  received  their  license  immediately  after  examination 
and  payment  of  the  fee  invariably  paid  by  all  applicants  for  license. 
The  board  has  granted  the  license  in  every  instance,  without  any  dis- 
tinction or  restriction,  when  the  proper  qualifications  have  been  ascer- 
tained to  exist. 

2.  The  Society  has  on  very  rare  occasions  deemed  it  expedient  to 
have  the  legal  penalty  inflicted  upon  persons  without  the  aforesaid 
license,  and  then  only  for  the  protection  of  the  public  against  notorious 
and  swindling  quacks. 

3.  The  Society  has  never,  in  a  single  instance,  by  forbidding  con- 
sultations or  restricting  them  in  any  way,  infringed  that  provision  of 
the  charter  forbidding  interference  with  "the  regulation  of  the  prac- 
tice of  medical  attendance."  But,  debarred  from  the  exercise  of  these 
powers  in  the  Society,  the  medical  practitioners  of  this  District  many 
years  ago  organized  a  voluntary  society,  known  as  the  Medical  Asso- 
ciation of  the  District  of  Columbia,  and  in  that  association  have  made 
regulations  with  respect  to  medical  ethics,  including  the  regulations 
of  consultations,  fees,  etc.  The  regulations  of  this  voluntary  associ- 
ation have  been  confounded  with  the  acts  of  the  Society,  and  the 
latter  body  is  thus  made  to  bear  the  credit  or  the  odium  of  regu- 
lations not  properly  chargeable  to  it.  The  existence  of  this  second 
body,  the  Medical  Association,  is  not  fully  known  by  the  public  or 
some  of  the  profession  as  it  should  be,  and  in  the  charges  made 


PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES.  249 

against  the  Society  in  Congress  there  was  a  marked  evidence  of  this 
conftision, 

4.  By  reference  to  the  fourth  provision  of  the  charter,  as  stated 
above,  it  will  be  seen  that  membership  is  not  a  right,  compulsory  on 
the  Society  to  grant  when  applied  for,  and  that  the  Society  has,  in 
fact,  in  the  exercise  of  its  legitimate  right,  on  more  than  one  occa- 
sion, rejected  candidates  for  membership;  and  it  has  thus  refused 
those  individuals,  not  as  a  right  which  they  could  demand,  but  a 
benefit  which  it  was  optional  with  the  Society  to  bestow. 

Every  man,  be  he  Chinaman,  Choctaw,  or  African,  whether  he  may 
think  2)roper  to  practice  hydropathy,  sorcery,  homoeopathy,  clarivoy- 
ance,  or  any  form  of  quackery,  has  a  right  under  the  law  to  demand 
of  the  Board  of  Examiners  a  license  or  certificate  on  presenting  a 
diploma  from  a  respectable  medical  college  or  passing  the  required 
examination. 

It  would,  therefore,  be  absurd  to  insist  that  every  licentiate  should 
necessarily  be  entitled  to  the  privileges  of  membership  which,  briefly 
stated,  consist  of  social  reunion  for  medical  discussion  and  the  elec- 
tion of  officers  generally. 

The  Medical  Society  for  a  series  of  years  has  held  weekly  meetings 
for  the  discussion  of  medical  subjects,  and  these  meetings  have  been 
of  the  nature  of  social  reunions,  and,  of  course,  each  member  has 
exercised  his  right  in  the  selection  of  his  associates.  To  question  his 
right  to  vote  in  the  election  of  members  as  he  may  deem  proper 
would  be  an  unwarrantable  infringement  of  his  franchise. 

Shall  the  existence  of  the  Society  be  threatened  because  a  majority 
of  its  members  have  held  and  acted  upon  the  belief  that  the  admis- 
sion of  certain  persons  as  members  would  render  the  attendance  upon 
these  meetings  so  distasteftil  as  to  insure  their  cessation,  and  thus,  far 
from  benefiting  the  complainants,  destroy  the  usefulness  of  the 
Society  ? 

In  fine,  the  license  from  the  Board  of  Examiners  conveys  all  the 
rights  which  this  Society  can  confer. 

The  privilege  of  membership  is  merely  a  privilege  of  association 
and  social  reunion,  and  it  is  for  entrance  into  the  social  reunion  that 
the  friends  of  the  colored  physicians  are  clamorous,  and  not  only 
threaten  to  destroy  the  Society  unless  admitted,  but  have  boldly 
demanded  in  public  meeting  that  the  charter  be  taken  away  from  the 
Society ;  and  among  the  prime  movers  in  this  attempt  to  effect  the 
destruction  of  the  Society  are  certain  individuals  who  have  settled 
amongst  us  of  late,  have  received  the  courtesy  of  its  members,  yet, 
while  retaining  their  membership,  they  are  plotting  its  destruction. 

It  will  thus  be  seen  that  the  charter  secures  to  all  medical  practi- 


250  PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES. 

tioners,  without  distinction,  riglits  dependent  only  upon  certain  moral 
and  intellectual  qualifications,  and  that  the  Society  has  never  desired 
nor  attempted  to  interfere  with  or  deny  those  rights.  It  will  also  be 
seen  that  it  leaves  the  question  of  membership  as  one  of  optional  and 
social  association. 

This  Society  does,  therefore,  most  solemnly,  in  the  presence  of  the 
public,  protest  against  a  tyrannical  attempt  to  jjunish  it  for  the  exer- 
cise of  an  undoubted  and  legitimate  right,  and  in  the  absence  of  any 
express  legislation  to  meet  the  emergency,  the  opposition  to  which 
might  then  be  justly  chargeable  to  the  Society  as  a  misdemeanor. 

J.  W.  H.  LovEJOY,  M.D. 

C.   H.   LlEBERMANN,  M.D. 

J.  M.  Toner,  M.D. 

W.   P.   JOHNSTOX,  M.D., 

President  Med.  Society,  D.  C. 

Wm.  Lee,  M.D., 

Secretary  Med.  Society,  D.  C. 

This  appeal  was  prepared  by  a  committee  appointed  for  that 
purpose,  and  was  unanimously  adopted.  It  set  forth  distinctly 
the  charges  made  against  the  Society  by  its  assailants,  and 
based  their  refutation  upon  the  accepted  interpretation  of  the 
law  enacted  by  Congress  in  1819,  which  had  not  been  violated 
during  a  period  of  fifty-one  years,  and  to  which  it  declared 
its  purpose  to  adhere,  notwithstanding  the  threat  of  repeal. 

At  that  period  there  was  a  large  majority  in  each  branch  of 
Congress  that  seized  every  occasion  and  opportunity  to  vindi- 
cate and  extend  the  rights  and  privileges  of  the  citizens  of 
African  descent,  among  which  the  hostile  faction  found  many 
zealous  and  impetuous  friends  ready  to  aid  it  in  advocacy  of 
the  purpose  to  destroy  the  Society,  rather  than  submit  to  the 
will  of  a  majority  of  its  membership,  lawfully  and  deliberately 
expressed.  With  Senator  Sumner  aud  other  distinguished 
and  influential  Senators  in  active  support  of  the  efforts  to 
effect  a  repeal  of  the  charter,  the  danger  of  success  was  ap- 
parently imminent,  yet  the  Society,  as  a  body,  firmly  and 
with  unwavering  courage  persisted  in  its  course  and  confronted 
every  action  without  dismay.  It  did  more,  as  will  be  shown 
further  on  in  the  proceedings  of  the  American  Medical  Asso- 


PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES.  251 

ciation.  It  openly  charged  its  assailants,  before  that  body,  with 
violations  of  the  law  of  Congress  and  of  the  etliics  of  the 
profession  to  which  many  of  tlieni  had  committed  themselves 
in  the  most  solemn  manner. 

At  the  meeting  of  the  Society,  February  9,  1870,  Dr. 
Joseph  Borrows  again  nominated  Drs.  Purvis,  Augusta,  and 
Tucker.  It  not  being  a  stated  meeting,  as  required  by  the 
revised  regulations,  the  nominations  Avere  declared  out  of 
order.  This  seems  to  have  been  the  last  attempt  to  compel 
the  majority  to  yield.  Thereafter  the  controversy  was  trans- 
ferred to  the  American  Medical  Association,  which  was  to 
assemble  in  this  city  in  May  following,  and  both  the  hostile 
faction  and  the  Society  proceeded  with  their  preparations  for 
the  conflict. 

The  assailants,  including  the  hostile  faction,  based  their 
contention  upon  two  propositions:  the  abrogation  of  the 
charter,  which  would  deprive  the  Society  of  representation  in 
the  American  Medical  Association,  and  the  multiplication  of 
representation  from  the  District  of  Columbia,  through  the 
organization  of  other  medical  societies,  into  which  they  could 
gather  numerous  resident  physicians,  some  not  engaged  in  the 
practice  of  medicine,  and  all  recusant  members  of  the  pro- 
fession, some  of  whom,  like  the  physicians  of  African  de- 
scent, were  rejected  applicants,  and  others  who  were  unwilling 
to  submit  to  the  usages  and  etiquette  which  a  code  of  ethics 
prescribes  for  the  regulation  of  professional  intercourse  among 
honorable  men.  They  derived  very  important  assistance  from 
the  local  partisan  press,  especially  the  Washington  Chronicle, 
edited  by  John  W.  Forney,  at  that  time  Secretary  of  the 
Senate. 

The  Medical  Society  relied  upon  the  law  and  justice.  It 
invoked  and  secured  the  co-operation  of  the  Medical  Associa- 
tion of  the  District  of  Columbia.  The  two  organizations 
united  in  a  common  agreement,  not  only  of  defence  of  the 
accusations  made  against  the  Society,  but  also  of  attack  based 
upon  the  illegal  and    unethical  acts  and   procedures  of  the 


252  PEBSOyAL  REMINISCENCES. 

recently  formed  medical  societies,  and  their  co-operatiag 
organizations  that  were  claiming  representation  in  the  Ameri- 
can Medical  Association. 

In  the  election  of  delegates  to  the  American  Medical  Asso- 
ciation the  Medical  Society  and  Medical  Association  of  the 
District  of  Columbia  were  careful  to  select  members  who 
were  openly  committed  to  the  support  of  the  policy  adopted 
by  the  two  organizations.  They  did  not  exclude  members 
who  were  known  to  favor  the  admission  of  physicians  of 
African  descent,  but  did  ostracise  those  few,  and  their  co- 
adjutors, who  have  been  characterized  as  the  hostile  faction. 

At  a  joint  meeting  of  the  two  delegations  held  early  in 
April,  1870,  I  was  elected  Chairman  of  the  joint  delegations 
and  representative  of  the  District  of  Columbia  on  the  domi- 
nating Committee  of  the  American  Medical  Association.  As 
the  Chairman,  I  was  charged  with  the  conduct  of  the  contro- 
versy on  the  part  of  the  two  local  societies.  The  further  ])ro- 
ceedings  are  fully  set  forth  in  the  report  I  made  to  the  Medical 
Society,  June  15,  1870.  In  it  are  included  all  the  facts  of 
record  in  the  Transactions  of  the  American  Medical  Associa- 
tion and  of  the  Medical  Society  of  the  District  of  Columbia. 

Report  of  the  Chairman  of  the  Delegates  of  the  American  Medical 
Association,  made  to  the  Medical  Society  of  the  District  of  Columbia, 
June  15,  1870 : 

Me.  Peesidekt  :  In  obedience  to  the  resolution  of  May,  I  sub- 
mit, in  writing,  the  following  reiDort  of  the  delegates  to  the  meeting 
of  the  American  Medical  Association  recently  held  in  this  city : 

It  having  become  known  to  the  delegates  from  the  Medical  Society 
and  Medical  Association  of  the  District  of  Columbia  that  the  "  Na- 
tional Medical  Society  of  the  District  of  Columbia"  would  send 
delegates  to  the  American  Medical  Association,  and  learning  through 
the  public  press  that  Dr.  C.  C.  Cox,  who  had  been  represented  by  his 
friends  to  be  seeking  the  presidency,  had  been  elected  a  delegate  from 
a  medical  society  in  Baltimore,  a  meeting  of  the  delegates  was  held 
at  the  office  of  Dr.  Toner,  on  Thursday,  April  28,  1870,  to  deliberate 
upon  the  jiroper  course  to  be  pursued.  The  following  resolution  was 
adopted  and  a  copy  transmitted  to  the  Committee  of  Arrangements 
of  the  American  Medical  Association. 


PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES.  253 

Resolved,  That  the  delegates  representing  the  Medical  Society  and 
Medical  Association  of  the  District  of  Columbia  protest  against  the 
admission  of  any  delegate  who  is  a  member  of  the  so-called  "  National 
Medical  Society  of  the  District  of  Columbia,"  because  said  society 
was  formed  in  contempt  of  the  organized  medical  society,  and  has 
attempted  through  legislative  influence  to  break  down  the  Medical 
Society  of  the  District  of  Columbia,  or  of  any  faculty  which  is  com- 
posed of  any  of  the  members  of  said  "National  Medical  Society,"  or 
of  any  one,  resident  of  this  District,  and  presenting  credentials  from 
a  non-resident  society,  or  of  any  hosjiital,  the  medical  staff  of  which 
recognizes  or  is  in  affiliation  with  the  "  National  Medical  Society ;  " 
and  be  it  further 

Resolved,  That  the  Committee  of  Arrangements  of  the  American 
Medical  Association  be  requested  to  withhold  credentials  from  such 
persons,  and  to  submit  the  question  of  their  admission  to  the  Ameri- 
can Medical  Association. 

The  above  was  adopted  at  a  meeting  of  the  delegates,  April  28, 1870. 

Thomas  Miller,  M.D., 

Chairman  of  meeting  of  delegates. 

J.  W.  H.  LOVE.IOY,  M.D., 

Secretary  of  meeting  of  delegates. 

The  followiug  protest  was  presented  by  the  President  of  the 
Society  to  the  Committee  of  Arrangements : 

Dr.  Antisell, 

Chairman  Committee  of  Arrangements  American  Medical  Association  : 
Dear  Sir:  Having  heard  that  delegates  to  the  American  Medical 
Association  will  present  credentials  from  a  society  of  this  city  styled 
the  "  National  Medical  Society  of  the  District  of  Columbia,"  I  hereby 
protest  against  the  Committee  accepting  such  delegates,  and  desire 
that  the  papers  be  referred  to  the  Association  for  their  action. 

Very  respectfully, 

W.  P.  JOHXSTON, 

President  Med.  Society,  D.  C. 

These  two  papers  show  conclusively  that  this  Society, 
through  its  President  and  delegates,  never  sought  other  than 
a  fair  and  honorable  investigation  into  and  adjustment  of  the 
questions  at  issue  between  it  and  the  "  National  Medical 
Society  of  the  District  of  Columbia." 

They  show,  moreover,  that  it  never  raised  any  question 
concerning  the  "  Alumni  Association  of  the  Medical  Depart- 


254  PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES. 

ment  of  Georgetown  College,"  or  of  the  "  Section  of  Medicine 
and  Hygiene,  A.  A.  of  Literature,  Science,  and  Art,"  or  con- 
cerning Howard  University  or  Freedmen's  Hospital,  except 
so  far  as  these  institutions  might  be  represented  by  members 
of  the  "National  Medical  Society." 

The  protest  of  the  delegation  contains  two  propositions : 

First.  It  protests  against  the  admission  of  any  resident  of 
the  District  of  Columbia  as  a  delegate  from  any  non-resident 
society. 

For  it  is  clear  that  if  a  minority,  when  the  profession  or  a 
society  is  divided  upon  any  issue,  can  obtain  admission  through 
non-resident  societies,  a  majority  can  never  assert  its  prerog- 
ative, and  the  right  of  representation  is  thereby  denied. 

The  following  is  a  transcript  from  the  register  of  the  Amer- 
ican Medical  Association  : 

No.  37.  Chris.  C.  Cox ;  iDost-office,  Baltimore ;  count)^,  Baltimore ; 
State,  Maryland. 

Institute  represented,  Baltimore  Medical  Association. 

Believing  that  Delegate  C.  C.  Cox  was  the  licentiate  C.  C. 
Cox,  of  this  Society,  though  the  identity  was  lost  in  the  fact 
that  one  was,  according  to  the  register  of  the  American  Med- 
ical Association,  a  resident  of  Maryland,  and  the  other  must 
have  been,  March  2,  1870  (the  date  of  his  license),  according 
to  the  charter  of  the  Society,  a  resident  of  the  District  of 
Columbia.  And  believing,  furthermore,  that  Delegate  C.  C. 
Cox  was  Chris.  C.  Cox,  M.D.,  LL.D.,  Professor  of  Anatomy, 
Medical  Jurisprudence,  and  Toxicology  in  Georgetown  Col- 
lege, editor  of  the  National  Ifedical  Journal,  and  President 
of  the  Department  of  Medical  Science  and  Hygiene  of  the 
American  Union  Academy  of  Literature,  Science,  and  Art," 
which  institutions  are  located  in  this  city,  was  the  same 
licentiate  C.  C.  Cox,  a  resident  of  this  city,  engaged  in  the 
practice  of  medicine  here,  with  an  office  at  1325  F  Street, 
and  a  residence  at  1412  I  Street,  I  presented  the  following 
protest  : 


PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES.  255 

To  the  American  Medical  Association  : 

"We,  the  undersigned  physicians  and  delegates  of  the  District  of 
Columbia,  protest  against  the  admission  of  Dr.  C.  C.  Cox  as  a  delegate 
from  any  medical  society  of  the  State  of  Maryland,  he  having  dis- 
continued the  practice  of  medicine  in  that  State  for  the  purpose  of 
receiving  a  political  oflSce  in  Washington  City,  and,  after  the  termina- 
tion of  his  official  tenure,  remaining  in  this  city  as  a  practitioner  of 
medicine. 

S.  C.  Busey.  A.  F.  A.  King, 

G.  M.  Dove,  W.  H.  Coombs, 

N.  S.  Lincoln,  Chas.  E.  Hagner, 

J.  "W.  H.  Lovejoy,  W.  P.  Johnston, 

Rob't  King  Stone,  C.  H.  Liebermann, 

W.  B.  Butt,  Thos.  Miller, 

Grafton  Tyler,  C.  F.  Naley, 

John  Fred'k  May,  Wm.  Marbury, 

Wm.  G.  Palmer,  D.  Webster  Prentiss, 

John  W.  Bulkley,  Geo.  R.  Miller, 

J.  C.  Hall,  W.  E.  Roberts, 

John  C.  Riley,  W.  W.  Johnston, 

Alex.  Y.  P.  Garnett,  Wm.  B.  Drinkard. 

I  certify  that  the  above  is  a  true  copy  of  the  document  now  in  my 
hands.  (Signed)        Wm.  B.  Atkixson, 

Perm.  Sec.  Amer.  Med.  Ass'n. 

In  answer  to  this  charge  he  denied  to  the  committee  his 
residence  in  this  District,  as  is  shown  by  the  following  letter : 

Louisville,  Ky.,  June  6,  1870. 
My  Dear  Doctor  :  Dr.  Cox  distinctly  claimed  Baltimore  as  his 
residence  when  I  took  the  ground  that  a  man  could  not  live  in  one 
State  and  be  allowed  to  represent  another.  Both  he  and  his  friends 
declared  in  support  of  his  assertion  that  Baltimore  was  his  home ; 
that  he  had  never  voted  in  Washington  City.  Following  immediately 
upon  this  assertion  we  were  all  very  much  amused  by  Dr.  Askew's 
question  as  to  where  he  had  his  washing  done. 

I  sincerely  hope  he  will  be  dealt  with  rightly,  but  very  rigidly. 
Regards  to  the  clever  doctors  of  the  cit}-. 

And  believe  me  very  truly  yours, 

(Signed)        J.  M.  Keller. 
Dr.  S.  C.  Busey, 

Washington,  D.  C. 


256  PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES. 

Notwithstanding  this  denial  and  the  registry,  his  acknowl- 
edged residence  in  this  city  is  fixed  by  the  following  certificate 
from  the  Treasurer : 

Washington,  June  7,  1870. 
931  H  St.,  N.  W. 

Dear  Busey  :  Your  note  requesting  me  to  give  you  the  date  of  the 
payment  by  Dr.  C.  C.  Cox  of  the  fee  for  license  to  practice  medicine 
in  this  District  under  the  authority  of  the  Medical  Society  of  the 
District  of  Columbia  was  duly  received. 

I  find,  on  reference  to  my  books,  that  Dr.  C.  C.  Cox  paid  the  fee 
for  his  license  on  October  the  16th,  1869. 

Yours  truly, 

(Signed)        Wm.  Maebury, 

Treasurer  Med.  Society,  D.  C. 

Dr.  S.  C.  Busey. 

And  the  still  more  conclusive  testimony  of  the  Chairman 
of  the  Board  of  Examiners,  for  it  shows  that  he  applied  as 
early  as  July  or  August,  1869,  which  must  be  the  date  at 
which  he  considered  himself  a  resident ;  was  licensed  March  2, 
1870,  and  notified  during  the  latter  part  of  tlie  same  month. 

Washington  City,  June  10, 1870. 

My  Dear  Doctor  :  When  the  present  Board  of  Examiners  entered 
upon  their  duties  they  found  a  great  deal  of  unfinished  business  on 
hand.  Dr.  C.  C.  Cox  had  aj^plied  for  license  in  July  or  August,  1869, 
which  had  never  been  granted  him. 

Dr.  Howard  called  my  attention,  as  chairman,  to  his  case.  I  saw 
Dr.  Eliot,  late  chairman,  who  informed  me  that  he  had  told  Dr.  C.  on 
several  occasions  that  it  was  necessary  that  he  should  exhibit  his 
diploma  to  the  board  before  license  could  be  granted  him ;  this  he 
failed  to  do.  I  then  requested  Dr.  Howard,  as  the  friend  of  Dr.  C, 
to  call  on  Dr.  C.  and  inform  him  in  regard  to  the  course  to  be  pur- 
sued. This  was  in  January,  1870.  About  the  1st  of  March  Dr.  C. 
left  his  diploma  at  the  oflice  of  Dr.  H.,  who  stated  the  fiict  to  me.  I 
called,  examined  it,  and  reported  to  the  board.  License  was  granted, 
and  Dr.  C.  was  notified  by  me  some  time  between  the  21st  and  27th 
of  March,  and  has  since  acknowledged  receipt  of  the  notice.  At  the 
time  of  examining  the  diploma  I  asked  Dr.  H.  if  Dr.  Cox  desired  to 
be  proposed  for  membership  in  the  Society.  Dr.  H.  said  he  did  not, 
and  that  he  preferred  not  to  become  a  member,  as  the  existence  of 
the  Society  was  in  doubt,  and  he  preferred  to  wait. 


PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES.  257 

During  the  session  of  the  American  Medical  Association  I  asked 
Dr.  H.  if  he  recollected  the  conversation  that  had  taken  place ;  he 
said  he  did,  and  his  recollection  was  precisely  as  stated  by  me  above. 
Should  you  desire  anything  further  in  regard  to  this  matter  I  shall 
be  happy  to  give  you  all  the  information  in  my  j^ower. 
With  best  wishes  for  your  entire  recovery, 
I  remain,  very  truly, 

Your  fit'iend, 
(Signed)   Wm.  G.  Palmer. 
Samuel  C.  Busey,  M.D., 

Washington  City,  D  C. 

Subsequent  to  the  presentation  of  the  protest  by  myself, 
Dr.  J.  Ford  Thompson  presented  the  following : 

The  undersigned,  chairman  of  the  delegation  of  the  Medical  Soci- 
ety, and  others,  members  of  the  profession  of  the  District  of  Colum- 
bia, charge  Dr.  Cox  with  violation  of  the  Code  of  Ethics  of  the 
American  Medical  Association  in  this,  that  he  has  importuned  Sen- 
ators or  a  Senator  to  permit  the  bill  pending  before  that  body  to  pass, 
that  the  vote  of  the  Society  in  this  Association  might  thereby  be 
destroyed ;  and,  secondly,  he  pursued  the  practice  of  medicine  in  this 
city  without  becoming  a  member  of  any  of  its  local  organizations, 
and  therefore  refuses  to  comply  with  the  local  Code  of  Ethics.  We 
file  the  letter  of  Senator  Patterson,  and  refer  to  Drs.  Johnston,  Lin- 
coln, Ford,  Thompson,  and  Dr.  Nichols,  of  the  Insane  Asylum. 

S.  C.  Busey, 

Chairman. 

j.  w.  h.  lovejoy. 
Eob't  Kixg  Stone. 
G.  M.  Dove. 
Alex.  Y.  P.  Garxett. 

To  the  Committee  on  Ethics. 

I  certify  that  the  above  is  a  true  copy  of  the  documents  in  my 

hands. 

(Signed)        Wm.  B.  Atkinsox, 

Perm.  Sec'y  Amer.  Med.  Ass'n. 

Which  was  referred  to  the  same  committee. 

On  motion,  five  minutes  were  given  to  Dr.  Cox  to  make  an  expla- 
nation. He  said  that  he  had  bought  a  license  from  the  Medical  Asso- 
ciation of  this  city,  but  he  had  never  received  the  said  license ;  that 
was  the  reason  he  was  not  a  member  of  the  Medical  Society ;  and, 

17 


258  PERGONAL  REMINISCENCES. 

further,  that  he  had  never  importuned  any  Senator  on  any  subject 
whatever,  as  had  been  charged  upon  him. — Extract  from  Daily 
Chronicle. 

This  brief  extract  contains  the  distinct  allegation  that  this 
Society  had  committed  the  illegal  and  dishonorable  act  of  bar- 
tering in  its  license ;  and,  furthermore,  declared  that  Licen- 
tiate Cox  had  obtained  his  license  as  the  equivalent  for  a 
stipulated  price,  and  not  as  a  right  to  which  he  was  entitled, 
and  for  which  he  had  applied  as  early  as  August,  1869,  and 
obtained  March,  1870. 

He  asserts  that  he  purchased  that  which  this  Society  had  no  right 
to  sell,  and  never  had  sold.  In  answer  to  this  charge  against  the 
Society,  I  need  only  refer  to  the  letters  of  Drs.  Palmer  and  Marbury ; 
and  his  avowal  of  a  purchase  of  a  license  denies  the  truth  of  his 
registry. 

His  assertion  that  his  failure  to  join  the  Society  resulted  from  the 
non-receipt  of  his  license  is  contradicted  by  the  testimony  of  his 
friend  Howard.  All  the  circumstances  go  to  show  that  he  regarded 
himself  a  resident  of  this  city.  He  also  denies  receipt  of  his  license, 
yet  the  proof  is  positive  and  direct  that  he  was  notified  of  it  prior  to 
the  meeting  of  the  American  Medical  Association,  and  acknowledged 
its  receipt.  He,  furthermore,  denies  "  that  he  had  ever  importuned 
any  Senator  on  any  subject  whatever."  This  denial  afforded  oppor- 
tunity for  the  presentation  and  reading  of  the  following  letter : 

U.  S.  S.  Chamber, 
Washington,  May  2,  1870. 

My  Dear  Doctor  :  You  will  jjlease  pardon  me  on  the  score  of 
long  friendship  for  troubling  you  with  this  note.  I  desire  informa- 
tion on  a  subject  which  I  think  it  is  in  your  power  to  give.  Senator 
Sumner  came  to  me  on  Friday  last  and  expressed  the  desire  that  I 
should  withdraw  my  opposition  to  his  bill  abrogating  the  charter  of 
the  Medical  Society  in  this  District,  stating  that  Dr.  C.  C.  Cox,  among 
others,  had  been  to  him  urging  immediate  action  upon  the  bill,  in 
order  that  the  Society  might  be  deprived  of  its  representation  in  the 
approaching  meeting  of  the  American  Medical  Association,  thereby 
throwing  the  power  into  the  hands  of  the  radical  members  of  the 
profession.  I  desire  to  know  if  such  will  be  the  effect  of  the  abroga- 
tion of  the  charter  of  the  Society.  I  need  not  say  to  one  who  has 
known  me  as  long  and  as  intimately  as  yourself  that  I  have  no  sym- 


PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES.  259 

pathy  with  any  denial  or  limitation  of  the  rights  of  colored  men,  but 
at  the  same  time  it  has  seemed  to  me  that  it  would  be  an  act  of  in- 
justice to  destroy  the  charter  of  the  ancient  and  honorable  Medical 
Society  of  this  District  for  the  reasons  upon  which  it  is  urged. 
An  early  reply  will  greatly  oblige, 

Yours  sincerely, 

J.  W.  Patterson. 
N,'S.  Lincoln,  M.D. 

As  Delegate  C.  C.  Cox  thrust  himself  forward  as  the  peculiar  cham- 
pion of  the  colored  physicians,  and  availed  himself  of  every  oppor- 
tunity to  assail  the  Medical  Society  for  its  alleged  hostility  to  the 
admission  of  this  class  of  persons,  it  is  prosier  that  I  should  put  upon 

record  a  fact  stated  by ,  of  Baltimore  city,  in  the  presence  of 

Drs.  Hall,  Palmer,  R.  S.  L.  Walsh,  Hagner,  G.  E.  Miller,  Bulkley, 
McClery,  Maury,  and  myself,  of  this  city,  and  Drs.  Jones  and  Parker, 
of  New  York,  and  authorized  either  to  report  it.     It  is  as  follows : 

About  four  or  six  weeks  previous  to  the  meeting  of  the  American 
Medfcal  Association  Dr.  C.  C  Cox  visited  the  city  of  Baltimore. 
While  there  he  attended  a  meeting  of  the  Baltimore  Medical  Associa- 
tion, and  delivered  a  speech,  in  which  he  declared  that  he  was  the 
most  available  candidate  for  the  presidency  of  the  American  Medical 
Association,  because  he  was  opposed  to  the  adniission  of  colored  phy- 
sicians, and  had  sustained  the  Medical  Society  of  the  District  of 
Columbia  in  its  contest  with  those  who  sought  to  abrogate  its  charter 
because  it  refused  admission  to  colored  physicians. 

While  the  consideration  of  the  protest  against  his  admission  and 
of  the  charges  against  him  were  pending  before  the  Committee  on 
Ethics  Delegate  C.  C.  Cox  sought  every  opportunity  to  disturb  the 
Association  with  some  motion  or  discussion  concerning  the  delegates 
from  the  District  of  Columbia  and  their  local  disputes.  Immediately 
upon  the  announcement  of  the  Xominating  Committee  he  moved  to 
strike  my  name  from  the  list,  which  motion  was  negatived  by  a  most 
decided  majority.  During  the  second  day  he  succeeded  in  carrying 
a  motion  to  exclude  all  delegates  (including  those  not  in  dispute)  from 
the  District  of  Columbia  until  the  report  of  the  Committee  on  Ethics. 

This  act  jjoints  unmistakably  to  the  purpose  which  prompted  his 
acts.  Not  only  did  he  seek  to  cast  odium  upon  the  personnel  of  the 
District  delegation  and  the  caase  which  they  upheld,  by  constantly 
disturbing  the  proceedings  of  the  Association  with  motions  and 
speeches  concerning  them,  but  he  sought  to  and  succeeded  in  closing 
the  mouths  of  the  delegation  while  the  charges  against  him  were 
pending,  knowing,  as  he  did,  that  the  facts  and  documents  in  posses- 
sion of  individual  deleirates  would  overwhelm  him. 


260  PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES. 

After  consideration  of  these  protests  the  majority  of  the  Committee 
recommended  the  admission  of  Dr.  Cox,  which  was  adopted. 

The  report  is  as  follows : 

Dr.  Alfred  Stille,  of  Pennsylvania,  Chairman  of  the  Committee  on 
Ethics,  presented  the  following  report  ( Tramactions  American  Medi- 
cal Association,  vol.  xxi.,  p.  40) : 

Whereas,  There  is  nothing  in  the  Constitution  and  By-laws  of  this 
Association  which  prohibits  a  medical  society  entitled  to  representa- 
tion from  appointing  delegates  who  are  members  of  such  society 
though  not  residents  of  the  same  place;  therefore, 

Resolved,  That  the  Committee  recommend  that  the  i^rotest  against 
Dr.  C.  C.  Cox  as  a  delegate  from  Maryland  be  laid  on  the  table. 

Alfred  Stille, 

Chairman  of  Committee  on  Ethics. 
Washington,  D.  C,  May  3, 1870. 

Dr.  John  M.  Keller,  of  Kentucky,  of  the  same  Committee,  presented 
the  minority  report. 

The  undersigned  begs  leave  to  submit  the  following  minority  report 
from  the  Committee  on  Ethics : 

First,  that  whilst  the  strict  letter  of  the  Constitution  and  By-laws 
of  the  American  Medical  Association  may  not  prevent  a  resident  of 
one  State  representing  a  medical  society  of  another  State  in  the 
meetings  of  the  American  Medical  Association,  it  is  plain  to  the 
mind  of  your  Minority  Committee  that  the  spirit  and  intent  of  the 
laws  are  that  a  delegate  must  reside  at  the  place,  or  certainly  in 
the  State  which  he  proposes  to  represent ;  therefore,  it  is  the  opinion 
of  the  minority  of  the  Committee  on  Ethics  that  Dr.  C.  C.  Cox 
should  not  be  allowed  a  seat  as  a  delegate  from  Maryland,  Washing- 
ton being  his  place  of  residence. 

J.  M.  Keller. 

During  the  consideration  of  the  admission  of  Cox  the  delegation 
submitted  with  dignity  and  in  silence  to  the  wrong  inflicted  by  the 
motion  of  Dr.  Cox. 

They  knew  their  exclusion  upon  a  simple  motion  was,  in  law, 
nugatory  and  void,  because  no  member  of  any  parliamentary  body 
can  be  excluded  by  the  will  of  a  simple  majority,  yet  they  choose  not 
to  agitate  the  question,  but  wait  in  dignified  silence  the  rej^ort,  feel- 
ing assured  their  course  and  cause  would  be  vindicated  and  their 
rights  maintained.     Not  one  raised  his  voice  against  the  majority 


PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES.  261 

report,  thus  giving  additional  proof  of  their  forbearance  and  willing- 
ness to  acquiesce  quietly  in  the  adjudication  of  the  Committee. 

The  majority  report  admitting  Delegate  Cox  was  based  upon  the 
fact  that  there  was  no  constitutional  prohibition  to  a  society  electing 
any  one  of  its  members  to  represent  it,  without  reference  to  his  resi- 
dence, and  not  upon  the  merits  of  the  questions  presented  in  the 
relation  which  he  bore  to  them. 

The  second  proposition  set  forth  by  the  protest  is  to  the  effect  that 
no  member  of  the  "  National  Medical  Society  "  ought  to  be  admitted 
as  a  delegate,  no  matter  what  society,  hospital,  or  college  he  may 
claim  to  represent.  Such  delegates  were  denied  credentials  by  the 
Committee  of  Arrangements,  and  Dr.  Reyburn,  a  member  of  said 
Committee,  presented  to  the  Association  the  following  minority 
report : 

Minorifij  Report  of  the  Committee  on  Credentials. 

The  undersigned  respectfully  protests  against  the  admission  to  the 
approaching  session  of  the  American  Medical  Association  of  the 
delegates  from  the  Medical  Society  of  the  District  of  Columbia,  for 
the  following  reasons,  viz. : 

These  delegates  represent  a  society  which,  in  open  defiance  of  the 
ethics  of  the  American  Medical  Association,  for  the  fee  often  dollars, 
issues  license  to  practice  medicine  in  the  District  of  Columbia  to 
homoeopathic  and  other  irregular  practitioners. 

This  Society  is  also  irregular  and  violates  the  ethics  of  the  Ameri- 
can Medical  Association  by  claiming  and  exercising  the  power  to 
grant  licenses  to  practice  medicine  in  the  District  of  Columbia  to 
persons  who  are  not  graduates  of  any  respectable  college  for  the  fee 
of  ten  dollars. 

The  undersigned  also  respectfully  jirotests  against  the  admission  to 
the  next  session  of  the  American  Medical  Association  of  the  delegates 
from  the  so-called  Medical  Association  of  the  District  of  Columbia, 
for  the  reason  that  said  association  is  composed  of  the  same  indi- 
viduals that  form  the  Medical  Society  of  the  District  of  Columbia ; 
in  fact,  it  only  settles  the  fee  bill  and  local  ethics  of  the  medical  pro- 
fession of  the  District,  and  can  in  no  sense  be  called  a  medical  or- 
ganization entitled  to  representation  in  the  American  Medical 
Association. 

No  medical  papers,  essays,  or  pathological  specimens  are  presented 
at  its  meetings,  and  it  is  in  fact  only  an  ingenious  device  by  which 
the  Medical  Society  of  the  District  of  Columbia  is  enabled  to  dupli- 
cate its  number  of  delegates  in  the  American  Medical  Association. 

The  undersigned  also  respectfully  calls  attention  to  the  number  of 


262  PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES. 

delegates  claiming  to  represent  the  medical  profession  of  the  District 
of  Columbia. 

The  total  number  of  regular  physicians  in  the  District  of  Columbia 
is  about  two  hundred,  which  would  give  about  twenty  delegates,  and 
yet  it  will  be  seen  that  the  District  delegates  number  about  sixty-four, 
which  is  evidently  unfair,  and  gives  the  District  a  much  larger  repre- 
sentation than  it  is  justly  entitled  to. 

The  undersigned  having  already  filed  a  written  protest  with  the 
Committee  on  Credentials,  for  the  reasons  above  given,  respectfully 
recommends  that  the  following  gentlemen,  delegates  from  the  Medical 
Society  of  this  city,  be  refused  admission  to  the  approaching  session 
of  the  Association,  viz. :  R.  K.  Stone,  T.  Miller,  J.  C.  Hall,  J.  W. 
Bulkley,  W.  B.  Drinkard,  W.  G.  Palmer,  F.  A.  Ashford,  W.  W. 
Johnston,  J.  T.  Young,  S.  C.  Busey,  J.  M.  Toner,  W.  P.  Johnston, 
T.  Antisell,  C.  E.  Hagner,  A.  F.  A.  King,  M.  V.  B.  Bogan,  W.  H. 
Combs,  D.  W.  Prentiss,  and  W.  E.  Roberts. 

For  reasons  as  above,  he  respectfully  recommends  that  seats  also 
be  reftised  in  the  approaching  session  of  the  Association  to  the  fol- 
lowing-named gentlemen,  delegates  from  the  so-called  Medical  Asso- 
ciation of  the  District,  viz. :  C.  H.  Liebermann,  D.  R.  Hagner,  William 
Lee,  J.  C.  Riley,  Grafton  Tyler,  W.  Butt,  Joseph  Walsh,  N.  S.  Lincoln, 
J.  W.  H.  Lovejoy,  Thos.  F.  Maury,  Louis  Ritchie,  W.  H.  G.  Newman, 
Armstead  Peter,  H.  B.  Triste,  Aaron  Miller,  and  George  R.  Miller. 

The  undersigned  reports  favorably  upon  the  credentials  of  and 
recommends  that  seats  be  granted  to  the  following-named  gentlemen, 
delegates  representing  the  various  societies  and  institutions  of  the 
District,  viz. : 

From  the  Alumni  Society,  Georgetown  College. — W.  Evans,  E. 
McNally,  F.  O.  St.  Clair,  G.  A.  Fitch,  R.  S.  L.  Walsh,  Charles  Allen. 

Columbia  Hospital,  Washington,  D.  C. — J.  H.  Thompson. 

Georgetown  College,  District  of  Columbia. — Johnson  Eliot,  Noble 
Young. 

Section  of  Medicine  and  Hygiene,  American  Academy  of  Literature, 
Science,  and  Art.— W.  D.  Stewart,  D.  W.  Bliss,  T.  B.  Hood,  J.  T. 
Johnson. 

Smallpox  Hospital,  District  of  Columbia. — A.  T.  Augusta. 

Washington  Asylum.— S.  A.  H.  McKim. 

Freedmen's  Hospital.— Charles  B.  Purvis,  B.  G.  Glenuau, 

Howard  University  Medical  College,  Washington,  D.  C. — S.  L. 
Loomis,  R.  Reyburn. 

National  Medical  Society,  Washington,  D.  C— H.  W.  Sawtelle, 
A.  W.  Tucker,  J.  E.  Mason. 

Clinico-Pathological  Society. — H.  A.  Robbing,  O.  M.  Muncaster, 


PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES.  263 

National  Medical  College,  D.  C— A.  Y.  P.Garnett,  J.  F.  Thompson. 

Providence  Hospital,  D.  C— G.  M.  Dove,  C.  M.  Ford. 

The  undersigned,  in  conclusion,  respectfiilly  protests  against  the 
arbitrary  and  illegal  conduct  of  the  majority  of  the  members  com- 
prising the  Committee  on  Credentials  in  refusing  credentials  to  dele- 
gates from  medical  institutions  which  have  been  heretofore  represented 
in  the  American  Medical  Association,  and  apparently  objected  to  them 
solely  on  partisan  and  political  grounds. 

Egbert  Eeyburn,  M.D., 

Member  of  Committee  on  Credentials,  Amer.  Med.  Ass'n. 

Unfortunately  for  Dr.  Reyburn's  reputation  for  candor  and  fair 
dealing,  and  for  the  dignity  of  his  position,  he  permitted  himself  to 
give  utterance  to  foolish  and  frivolous  charges  against  the  Medical 
Society  and  Medical  Association  of  the  District  of  Columbia.  As  a 
member  of  both  organizations  he  was  equally  responsible  for  and 
equally  shared  in  the  dishonorable  transactions  with  which  he  charged 
these  organizations,  and  though  he  had  for  years  been  a  member  of 
both,  and  had  represented  one  or  both  in  the  American  Medical  Asso- 
ciation, he  had  never  made  any  effort  to  expose  these  alleged  abuses, 
nor  even  called  the  attention  of  the  members  of  either  organization 
to  them. 

He  also  charges  that  the  profession  in  the  District  of  Columbia  is 
entitled  to  "  about  twenty  delegates,"  and  yet  in  his  minority  report 
he  recommends  the  admission  of  twenty-eight.  He,  furthermore, 
alleges  that  the  "  Medical  Association  of  the  District  of  Columbia  " 
(which  was  organized  fourteen  years  before  the  American  Medical 
Association)  is  an  ingenious  device  by  which  the  Medical  Society 
(which  was  organized  in  1819)  is  enabled  to  duplicate  its  number  of 
delegates  in  the  American  Medical  Association,  and  yet  he  recom- 
mends the  admission  of  the  delegates  from  the  Clinico-Pathological 
Society,  Georgetown  Alumni  Society,  "  National  Medical  Society," 
and  of  the  Section  of  Medicine  and  Hygiene,  American  Academy  ot 
Literature,  Science,  etc. 

The  last  two  being  recently  organized,  might  perhaps  be  amenable 
to  the  charge  of  being  "  ingenious  devices  "  to  obtain  representation 
in  the  American  Medical  Association.  In  this  connection  the  fact 
must  not  be  overlooked  that  this  charge  of  nuiltiplication  of  members 
and  delegates  comes  from  one  who  is  at  the  same  time  a  member  of 
five  different  organizations  claiming  representation  in  the  American 
Medical  Association — that  is  to  say,  Dr.  Eeyburn  was  a  member  (at 
the  time  of  making  his  report)  of  the  "  Medical  Society  of  the  Dis- 
trict of  Columbia,"  the  Medical  Association  of  the  District  of  Colum- 


264  PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES. 

bia,  of  the  "  National  Medical  Society  of  the  District  of  Columbia," 
of  the  faculty  of  Howard  University,  and  one  of  the  staff  of  Freed- 
men's  Hospital.     Further  comment  is  unnecessary. 

The  Committee  on  Ethics,  to  which  was  referred  both  reports  (ma- 
jority and  minority),  unanimously  dismissed  the  charges  against  the 
Medical  Society  of  the  District  of  Columbia  and  Association  as  too 
fi-ivolous  to  demand  even  a  serious  consideration,  for  it  was  clear  to 
them  that  as  the  legal  qualifications  to  practice  medicine  in  the  Dis- 
trict of  Columbia  could  only  be  acquired  by  the  possession  of  a  license 
from  the  Medical  Society,  it  must  follow  that  any  and  all  the  organ- 
izations of  legally  qualified  practitioners  of  medicine  must  to  a  cer- 
tain extent  be  duplicate  organizations,  at  least  of  licentiates  of  that 
body. 

But  the  main  question  presented  by  these  reports  was  the  admission 
of  delegates  who  were  members  of  the  "  National  Medical  Society  of 
the  District  of  Columbia."  Against  the  admission  of  such  persons  I 
presented  the  following  abstract  of  charges,  with  specifications  : 

To  the  Committee  on  Ethics,  American  Medical  Association  : 

Medical  Societ}^  of  the  District  of  Columbia,  chartered  1819.  Act 
amended  1838.     Purpose  of  charter  twofold. 

First.  To  legalize  the  practice  of  medicine  in  the  District  of  Co- 
lumbia. 

Second.  To  promote  science  and  disseminate  knowledge.  Mem- 
bership optional  (Sections  1  and  2).  License  to  practice  mandatory 
(Section  3).  Qualifications  of  licentiates  either  a  diploma  or  a  satis- 
factory examination  (Section  3).  Prohibition  against  any  regulations 
of  fees,  consultations,  ethics,  etc.  (Section  4).  Penalty  for  practising 
without  a  license  (Section  5). 

In  consequence  of  the  prohibition  of  Section  4  the  Medical  Associ- 
ation was  established,  which  regulates  fees,  consultations,  and  ethics. 

The  colored  physicians,  Drs.  Augusta,  Purvis,  and  Tucker,  never 
applied  for  membership  to  the  Association,  though  possessing  all  the 
qualifications,  as  shown  by  the  following : 

921  North  E  Street. 

My  Dear  Doctor  :  I  received  your  letter  yesterday  requesting  me 
to  send  you  a  copy  of  my  letter  to  Drs.  Augusta  and  Purvis,  and  the 
reply  of  Dr.  Augusta.  Not  supposing  that  it  would  ever  assume  the 
consequence  it  has,  I  destroyed  it  among  other  similar  notes.  I  will, 
however,  give  you,  as  far  as  I  can  recollect,  the  contents  of  my  letter 
to  Augusta  and  his  reply.  After  the  vote  on  their  (Augusta  and 
Purvis)  application  to  the  Medical  Society,  at  which  meeting  I  was 


PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES.  265 

not  present,  I  was  led  to  believe  the  principal  ol)jection  to  their 
admission  was  that  the  white  members  would  be  compelled  to  meet 
the  colored  physicians  socially  at  the  debates  and  entertainments  of 
the  Society ;  besides,  their  admission  to  the  Society  would  not  give 
them  any  substantial  advantage. 

Being  licentiates  of  the  Society,  they  were  eligible  to  the  Associa- 
tion, in  which  a  smaller  vote  would  be  required  for  their  admission 
than  in  the  Society,  in  which  they  would  gain  all  the  substantial 
privileges  which  they  required,  viz.  :  the  benefit  of  consultation  with 
the  white  physicians. 

This  course  I  advised  Drs.  Augusta  and  Purvis  to  pursue— to  apply 
for  admission  to  the  Medical  Association.  To  this  communication  I 
received  a  reply  from  Augusta  thanking  me  for  the  interest  I  took  in 
his  case,  but  stating  that  as  they  had  placed  it  in  the  hands  of  their 
friends,  he  must  decline  to  follow  my  suggestion,  stating  or  intimat- 
ing that  they  had  recommended  a  different  course.  Hoping  that  this 
statement  may  be  satisfactory,  I  send  it  to  you. 

I  remain  yours, 

(Signed)        Joseph  Borrows. 

They  were  licensed  by  the  Society  in  March  and  April,  1869. 

Subsequent  apiilication  for  membership  rejected,  and,  subsequently 
thereto,  they,  with  Drs.  Eeyburn,  Bliss,  Patterson,  Southworth,  J.  T. 
Johnson,  and  others,  members  of  this  Society,  united  with  other  phy- 
sicians (many  of  whom  are  not  engaged  in  the  practice  of  medicine, 
nor  legally  qualified  to  practice  medicine  in  the  District  of  Colum- 
bia) and  formed  the  "  National  Medical  Society  of  the  District  of 
Columbia." 

I  deny  the  legality  of  this  organization,  because — 

First.  It  recognizes  men  not  licentiates  of  the  3Iedical  Society  of 
the  District  of  Columbia. 

.  Second.  It  recognizes  men  not  supporting  the  only  local  society 
which  can  confer  the  right  to  practice  medicine. 

Third.  It  recognizes  men  violating  Sections  3,  4,  and  5  of  the 
charter  of  the  Medical  Society  of  the  District  of  Columbia. 

Fourth.  A  part  of  its  members  refuse  obedience  to  the  will  of  the 
majority,  lawfully  expressed. 

It  violates  ethics — 

First.  In  refusing  obedience  to  Section  16  of  the  regulations  of  the 
Medical  Association. 

Second.  As  a  society,  and  through  its  individual  members,  it  has 
invoked  political  and  legislative  interference  to  destroy  the  Medical 
Society  of  the  District  of  Columbia. 


266  PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES. 

Third.  It  has  furnished  to  the  press  an  abstract  of  its  discussions 
on  medical  subjects  or  permitted  a  reporter  to  be  present. 

Fourth.  Through  its  Committee  it  has  defamed  the  Medical  Society 
and  Association,  and  by  immediate  references  individual  members 
thereof. 

Fifth.  Through  its  committee  it  has  sought  to  reanimate  the  ani- 
mosities of  the  war  and  invoke  the  action  of  Congress  by  appealing 
to  such  prejudices. 

Sixth.  It  has  arraigned  the  Medical  Society  before  the  Senate  Com- 
mittee. 

Seventh.  One  or  more  of  its  members  and  others  have  importuned 
one  or  more  Senators  to  destroy  the  charter  of  the  Medical  Society  of 
the  District  of  Columbia. 

I  object  to  the  admission  of  the  delegates  from  Howard  University 
and  Freedmen's  Hospital  because  they  are  members  of  the  "  National 
Medical  Society  of  the  District  of  Columbia." 

Upon  these  charges,  after  having  permitted  me  to  present  the  testi- 
mony in  my  possession,  the  committee  made  the  following  report : 

Dr.  N.  S.  Davis  presented  a  report  from  the  majority  of  the  com- 
mittee, as  follows  {Transactions  American  Medical  Association,  1870, 
vol.  xxi.  p.  53) : 

It  appears  that  the  matters  reported  to  your  committee,  consisting 
of  the  minority  report  of  the  Committee  of  Eegistration,  and  so 
much  of  the  action  of  the  majority  of  same  committee  as  relates 
to  the  same  subject,  embrace  the  three  following  subjects : 

First.  A  charge  that  the  majority  of  the  Eegistration  Committee 
had  reiused  to  register  the  delegates  presenting  credentials  from 
several  societies,  colleges,  and  hospitals  in  the  District  of  Columbia 
which  claimed  the  right  to  representation. 

Second.  Direct  charges  against  the  Medical  Society  and  the  Med- 
ical Association  of  the  District  of  Columbia,  accompanied  by  a  pro- 
test against  the  admission  of  delegates  from  those  bodies. 

Third.  Direct  charges,  which  had  been  lodged  with  the  Committee 
of  Eegistration,  against  the  National  Medical  Society  of  the  Dis- 
trict of  Columbia,  accompanied  by  a  protest  against  the  registration 
of  delegates  from  that  Society,  and  from  such  other  institutions  as 
were  supplied  with  medical  officers  who  were  members  of  that  Society. 

In  regard  to  the  first  charge,  your  committee  find  on  investigation 
that  the  Eegistration  Committee  have  duly  registered  all  the  dele- 
gates from  all  the  medical  institutions  claiming  representation  in  the 
District  of  Columbia  in  accordance  with  the  usages  and  by-laws  of 
the  Association,  except  the  Medical  Society  of  the  Alumni  of  George- 
town College,  the  National  Medical  Society,  the  Howard  Medical 


PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES.  267 

College,  the  Freednicn's  Hospital,  and  the  Smallpox  Hospital,  these 
being  the  institutions  included  in  the  charges  already  mentioned  in 
the  third  specification. 

It  remains,  therefore,  only  to  consider  the  second  and  third  speci- 
fications, and  your  committee  ask  leave  to  report  on  these  separately. 
In  relation  to  the  second  we  unanimously  recommend  the  following 
resolutions : 

Resolved,  That  the  charges  offered  by  Dr.  Reyburn,  as  a  minority  of 
the  Committee  on  Registration,  against  the  Medical  Society  and  the 
Medical  Association  of  the  District  of  Columbia,  are  not  of  a  nature 
to  require  the  action  of  the  American  Medical  Association,  the  first 
charge  referring  to  a  duty  imposed  on  the  Society  by  an  Act  of  Con- 
gress, and  the  second  referring  to  a  matter  which  does  not  come  in 
conflict  with  any  part  of  the  code  of  ethics. 

Resolved,  That  so  far  as  relates  to  the  Medical  Society  of  the  Alumni 
of  Georgetown  College,  it  has  been  shown  to  us  that  the  Society  has 
sixty  resident  members,  and  is  therefore  entitled  to  six  delegates 
instead  of  as  requested  by  the  Committee. 

In  regard  to  the  third  proposition  relating  to  the  National  Medical 
Society,  Howard  Medical  College,  the  Freedmeu's  Hospital,  and  the 
Smalli^ox  Hospital,  we  recommend  the  following : 

Resolved,  That  the  duties  of  the  Committee  of  Arrangements,  so  far 
as  relates  to  the  registration  of  members,  is  purely  clerical,  consisting 
in  the  verification  of  the  certificates  of  delegates  and  a  report  on  the 
same.  If  credentials  in  proper  form  are  presented  from  any  society 
or  institution  possessing  such  form  as  would  place  it  prima  facie  in 
the  list  of  institutions  enumerated  in  the  Constitution  of  the  Associa- 
tion as  entitled  to  representation,  but  against  which  charges  have 
been  made  or  protests  presented,  the  names  of  the  delegates  present- 
ing such  credentials  together  with  the  charges  or  protests  in  the  pos- 
session of  the  Committee,  should  be  reported  to  the  Association  for 
its  action. 

Resolved,  That  the  charges  lodged  with  the  Committee  of  Arrange- 
ments against  the  eligibility  of  the  National  Medical  Society  of  the 
District  of  Columbia  have  been  so  far  sustained  that  we  recommend 
that  no  member  of  that  Society  should  be  received  as  delegate  at  the 
present  meeting  of  this  Association.  N.  S.  Davis, 

H.  F.  Askew, 
J.  M.  Keller. 

Dr.  Alfred  Stills  presented  a  report  from  the  minority  of  the  Com- 
mittee as  follows : 
The  undersigned  members  of  the  Committee  on  Ethics,  while  sub- 


268  PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES. 

scribing  to  the  greater  portion  of  the  report  of  the  majority,  feel  it 
their  duty  nevertheless  to  dissent  from  the  final  resolution  recom- 
mending the  exclusion  of  the  members  of  the  National  Medical 
Society  of  the  District  of  Columbia  from  the  present  meeting  of  this 
Association ;  they  offer,  therefore,  in  lieu  of  that  resolution  the  fol- 
lowing : 

Whereas,  The  institutions  excluded  from  representation  by  the 
action  of  the  Committee  on  Credentials,  viz. :  The  National  Medical 
Society,  the  Howard  Medical  College,  the  Freedmen's  Hospital,  and 
the  Smallpox  Hospital,  are  regularly  organized  as  the  Constitution  of 
the  Association  requires;  and 

Whereas,  The  physicians  so  excluded  are  qualified  practitioners  of 
medicine  who  have  complied  with  all  the  conditions  of  membership 
imposed  by  this  Association;  and 

Whereas,  In  the  judgment  of  the  undersigned  no  sufficient  ground 
exists  for  the  exclusion  of  such  institutions  and  jihysiciaus  from  the 
Association ;  therefore, 

Besolved,  That  the  institutions  above  named  are  entitled  to  repre- 
sentation, and  that  the  j^hysicians  claiming  to  represent  them  are 
entitled  to  seats  in  the  American  Medical  Association. 

Alfked  Stille, 
J.  J.  Woodward. 

The  majority  report  was  adopted. 

On  motion  to  lay  on  the  table  the  minority  report.  Dr.  Howard,  of 
the  District  of  Columbia,  asked  who  of  the  District  were  entitled  to 
vote. 

The  Chair  decided  that  those  gentlemen  were  entitled  to  vote  who 
had  been  unanimously  admitted  by  the  Committee  on  Ethics. 

An  appeal  was  taken  from  the  decision  of  the  Chair,  which  was  not 
sustained. 

The  minority  report  was  tabled  by  107  yeas  to  85  nays. 

A  motion  was  made  to  adopt  the  majority  report. 

Dr.  C.  C.  Cox,  of  Maryland,  then  addressed  the  Association,  pro- 
testing against  its  action  in  rejecting  the  minority  report,  and  gave  a 
brief  history  of  the  origin  of  the  differences  of  opinion  now  existing 
among  the  several  societies  of  the  city. 

Dr.  Cox,  during  his  address,  was  frequently  called  to  order. 

The  history  represented  to  have  been  given  Avas  simply  a  rehash 
of  the  charges  preferred  by  Dr.  Reyburn,  with  a  few  additional  accu- 
sations to  which  no  man  of  ordinary  respectability  would  affix  his 
name;  nevertheless,  the  majority  report  was  adopted  on  the  day  sub- 
sequent to  this  action. 


PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES.  269 

Ou  Friday,  ^lay  Gtli,  the  fourth  day  of  the  meeting,  Dr.  G.  S. 
Palmer,  of  Maine,  offered  the  following  resolution: 

Resolved,  That  the  majority  of  the  Committee  on  Ethics  be  respect- 
fully requested  to  inform  this  Association  on  what  j^rinciple  the  dele- 
gates of  the  Medical  Department  of  Howard  University  were  excluded 
from  membership  to  this  Association.     {Ibid.,  page  59.) 

After  much  discussion  Dr.  Davis  promised  to  give,  in  writing,  the 
reasons  for  the  action  of  the  majority  of  the  Committee. 

Dr.  N.  S.  Davis,  on  behalf  of  those  who  made  the  majority  report, 
presented  the  following  (Ibid.,  page  65)  : 

In  reply  to  the  resolution  of  the  Association  calling  upon  the 
majority  of  the  Committee  on  Ethics  for  the  reason  why  they  in  their 
report  excluded  the  delegates  from  the  Medical  Department  of 
Howard  University,  they  respectfully  state  that  there  is  nothing  in 
their  rejjort  which  directly  excludes  delegates  from  said  University, 
or  any  other  medical  institution  in  the  District  of  Columbia,  except 
the  National  Medical  Society. 

The  resolution  on  this  subject  reported  by  the  Committee  is  in 
these  words : 

Resolved,  That  the  charges  lodged  with  the  Committee  of  Arrange- 
ments against  the  eligibility  of  the  National  Medical  Society  of  the 
District  of  Columbia  have  been  so  far  sustained  that  we  recommend 
that  no  members  of  that  Society  should  be  received  as  delegates  at 
the  present  meeting  of  the  Association. 

It  will  be  seen  that  the  only  parties  excluded  from  admission  as 
delegates  at  the  present  meeting  are  the  members  of  the  National 
Medical  Society.  If  the  Medical  Department  of  Howard  University 
had  chosen  to  send  any  delegates  who  are  not  members  of  that 
Society,  there  is  nothing  whatever  in  the  report  to  prevent  them  from 
being  received. 

In  the  papers  referred  to  your  Committee  on  Ethics  was  a  list  of 
charges,  with  specifications  in  the  usual  form,  against  the  recognition 
of  the  National  Medical  Society.  These  charges  may  be  clearly  stated 
as  follows : 

First.  The  said  National  Medical  Society  recognizes  and  receives 
as  members  medical  men  who  are  not  licentiates,  and  who  are  acting 
in  open  violation  of  Sections  3,  4,  and  5  of  the  law  of  Congress  con- 
stituting the  charter  of  the  Medical  Society  of  the  District  of 
Columbia. 

Second.  That  a  large  part  of  the  members  of  the  National  Medical 
Society  are  also  members  of  the  Medical  Association  of  the  District 
of  Columbia,  and  are  openly  and  freely  violating  the  rules  and  ethics 
of  the  Association  to  which  they  have  subscribed. 


270  PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES. 

Third.  That  they  have,  both  in  its  capacity  as  a  society  and  by  its 
individual  members,  misrepresented  the  action  of  the  Medical  Society 
and  the  Medical  Association  of  the  District  of  Columbia,  and  used 
unfair  and  dishonorable  means  to  procure  the  destruction  of  the  same, 
by  inducing  Congress  to  abrogate  their  charter. 

Each  and  all  of  these  charges  were,  in  the  opinion  of  the  majority 

of  our  Committee,  fully  proved  by  the   members  of  the   National 

Medical  Society  themselves,  who  appeared  voluntarily  before  your 

Committee  as  witnesses.     Therefore,  if  we  have  any  regard  to  the 

maintenance  of  the  laws  of  the  land,  or  the  ethics  of  our  medical 

organizations,  the  undersigned  could  not  come  to  any  other  conclusion 

than  was  expressed  in  the  last  resolution  recommended  by  the  majority 

of  the  Committee  on  Ethics. 

(Signed)        N.  S.  Davis, 

James  M.  Keller. 

A  motion  was  made  to  refer  the  report  to  the  Committee  of 
Publication,  on  which  much  discussion  ensued,  fully  partici- 
pated in  by  Drs.  Keyburn,  Antisell,  W.  P.  Johnston,  J.  J. 
Woodward,  Busey,  and  others,  when  the  previous  question 
was  called  and  sustained,  and  the  report  was  referred  to  the 
Committee  of  Publication. 

Upon  the  motion  to  refer  this  report  to  the  Committee  on 
Publication  a  protracted  debate  ensued,  during  which  Dr. 
Bliss  denied  that  his  name  had  been  placed  upon  the  bill  of 
fare  at  Willard's  Hotel  with  his  knowledge,  in  response  to 
which  Dr.  Marbury  made  the  following  statement,  which  he 
has  since,  at  my  request,  reduced  to  writing : 

The  question  of  unprofessional  conduct  on  the  part  of  Dr.  D.  W. 
Bliss,  in  having  inserted  on  the  back  of  a  bill  of  fare  of  two  of  the 
hotels  of  Washington  City  an  advertisement  offering  his  medical 
services  to  the  public,  being  under  consideration  by  the  American 
Medical  Association  at  its  meeting  in  May,  1870, 1  made  the  following 
statement : 

Dr.  Bliss,  in  a  personal  interview  with  me,  declared  that  the  ad- 
vertisement referred  to  appeared  without  his  knowledge  or  consent ; 
but  that  in  consideration  of  the  Medical  Association  of  the  District 
of  Columbia  having  taken  steps  to  censure  him  for  this  matter,  with- 
out giving  him  an  opportunity  to  explain,  it  was  his  intention  to  per- 
mit the  advertisement  to  remain  as  jjrinted,  in  defiance  of  the  Asso- 
ciation. 

(Signed)        Wm.  Marbury. 
June  7, 1870. 


PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES.  271 

Washington,  June  7, 1870. 
931  H  Street,  N.  W. 

Dear  Busey:  The  foregoing  contains  the  substance  of  what  I  said 
in  the  American  Medical  Association  at  its  meeting  in  this  city  last 
month.  I  will  add  that  a  few  days  subsequently  I  met  Dr.  Bliss 
casually,  and  he  remarked  to  me,  in  reference  to  this  matter,  that  my 
statement  was  entirely  coi-rect. 

Yours  truly, 

(Signed)        Wm.  Marbury. 
Dr.  S.  C.  Busey. 

At  the  close  of  the  discussion  Dr.  H.  R.  Storer,  of  Massachusetts, 
offered  the  following  {Ibid.,  page  55) : 

Resolved,  That  inasmuch  as  it  has  been  distinctly  stated  and  proved 
that  the  consideration  of  race  and  color  has  had  nothing  whatsoever 
to  do  with  the  decision  of  the  question  of  the  reception  of  the  Wash- 
ington delegates,  and  inasmuch  as  charges  have  been  distinctly  made 
in  open  session  to-day  attaching  the  stigma  of  dishonor  to  parties 
implicated,  which  charges  have  not  been  denied  by  them,  though 
present;  therefore,  the  report  of  the  majority  of  the  Committee  on 
Ethics  be  declared,  as  to  all  intents  and  purposes,  unanimously 
adopted  by  the  Association. 

The  vote  Avas  then  taken  upon  the  resolution  of  Dr.  Storer,  which 
was  adopted;  ayes  112,  nays  34. 

The  parties  referred  to  in  the  preamble  of  this  resolution  to  whom 
the  "  stigma  of  dishonor  "  was  "  distinctly  "  attached  are  made  suffi- 
ciently manifest  as  not  to  require  of  me  any  further  reference. 

It  is  due  to  myself  to  state  that  the  facts  which  are  for  the  first 
time  made  public  in  this  report  were  in  my  possession  at  the  time  of 
the  final  consideration  of  the  question,  and  would  have  been  brought 
out  in  open  meeting  but  that  the  presiding  officer  persisted  in  con- 
fining me  to  the  simple  question  of  reference,  and  I  submitted  to  his 

ruling. 

(Signed)        S.  C.  Busey, 
Chairman  of  the  delegates  to  the  American  Med.  Assoc. 
Copy— 

AY.  Lee, 

Secretary. 

The  result  was  a  complete  vindicatiou  of  the  ^Medical 
Society  of  the  District  of  Columbia,  aud  sustained  every 
charge  made  against  the  "  National  Medical  Society  "  and  its 
affiliated  organizations. 

The  admission  of  Dr.  C.  C.  Cox  was  wrong  in  principle 


272  PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES. 

and  an  act  of  injustice  to  the  profession  of  tiae  District  ol 
Columbia.  The  report  of  the  Committee  on  Ethics  sustained, 
by  implication,  the  charge  of  non-residence  in  Maryland,  but 
denied  the  power  of  the  Association  to  exclude  him  on  that 
ground.  The  proof  of  his  improper  conduct  was  complete 
and  sufficient  to  have  excluded  him  from  such  a  body  as  the 
American  Medical  Association.  He  had  assumed  the  leader- 
ship of  the  assailants,  and  pursued  his  methods  in  the  most 
offensive  manner.  In  his  zeal  to  promote  his  aspirations  for 
the  presidency,  for  which  he  received  but  one  vote  in  the 
Nominating  Committee,  he  had  committed  acts  which  invoked 
the  condemnation  of  honorable  men.  The  rebuke  was,  how- 
ever, so  keenly  incisive  that  he  never  afterward  attended  a 
meeting  of  the  Association.  Subsequently  that  body  reversed 
its  action  and  declared  that  a  delegate  must  reside  in  the  State 
or  Territory  from  which  he  obtained  his  credentials. 

The  admission  of  the  delegates  from  the  Alumni  Society  was 
a  mistake.  It  is  true  that  no  protest  had  been  filed  against 
their  admission,  but  the  Committee  of  Arrangements,  in  the 
exercise  of  its  discretion,  had  refused  to  allow  them  to  register. 
This  mistake  was  corrected  at  Philadelphia,  in  1872,  and  the 
correct  interpretation  of  the  constitution  was  established,  to 
the  effect  that  Alumni  Societies  were  not  such  organizations  as 
were  entitled  to  representation. 

The  assailants  did  not  know  of  the  existence  of  the  letter 
of  Senator  Patterson  before  it  was  read,  and  only  two  or  three 
of  my  colleagues  had  seen  it  and  knew  it  was  in  my  pos- 
session, with  permission  to  make  such  use  of  it  as  I  might 
deem  proper.  I  intentionally  delayed  its  production  in  open 
session  until  all  the  denials  of  importunity  of  Senators  to 
expedite  the  act  of  repeal  had  been  made  in  open  meeting.  I 
believed  the  previous  denials  would  be  repeated  at  some  op- 
portune moment,  and  then  would  occur  the  critical  opportunity 
for  its  introduction.  During  the  discussion,  in  the  last  hour 
of  the  session,  when  the  explanation  of  the  majority  report  of 
the  Committee  on  Ethics  was  under  consideration,  the  letter 


PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES.  273 

was  read  before  the  Association.  The  effect  was  startling. 
The  proof  of  the  charges  made,  which  had  been  several  times 
denied,  was  so  positive  and  convincing  that  the  Association 
gave  immediate  expression  to  its  indignation  and  contempt  by 
the  passage  of  a  formal  resolution  "  attaching  the  stigma  of 
dishonor  to  parties  implicated."  The  "  parties  implicated  " 
had  reference  to  several  acts  which  had  been  brought  to  the 
attention  of  the  Association  in  the  explanation  of  the  majority 
of  the  Committee  on  Ethics  and  in  the  discussion  which  had 
followed  its  presentation,  to  which  reference  is  also  made  in 
the  foregoing  report  of  the  Chairman  of  the  delegates  from 
the  Medical  Society  and  Medical  Association  of  the  District 
of  Columbia. 

The  effect  of  the  action  of  the  American  Medical  Associa- 
tion was  salutary,  but  did  not  terminate  the  strife.  How  long 
the  "National  Medical  Society"  survived  I  cannot  now  state, 
but  it  expired  before  the  meeting  at  Philadelphia  in  1872, 
and  the  hostile  faction,  with  the  other  assailants,  bunched 
themselves  in  the  exotic  society  now  long  since  forgotten,  but 
known  then  as  the  "  Department  of  Hygiene  and  Medical 
Science  of  the  Academy  of  Literature,  Science,  and  Art."  It 
was  one  of  those  ephemeral  organizations  with  a  tenure  of 
existence  so  brief  that  it  failed  even  to  accomplish  the  prin- 
cipal, if  not  the  only  object  of  its  foundation — the  multiplica- 
tion of  representation  from  the  District  of  Columbia. 

It  was  not  discovered  until  after  the  adjournment  of  the 
Association  that  Dr.  G.  S.  Palmer,  the  author  of  the  resolu- 
tion requesting  the  majority  of  the  Committee  on  Ethics  to 
give  the  reasons  for  the  majority  report,  was  one  of  the 
Faculty  of  Howard  University,  but  had  registered  as  a  citizen 
of  and  a  delegate  from  the  State  of  Maine.  The  explanation 
was  even  more  satisfactory  than  the  majority  report,  and 
proved  to  be  a  much  more  effective  argument  in  support  of 
the  contention  of  the  Medical  Society  of  the  District  of 
Columbia. 

The  vindication  of  the  Medical  Society  of  the  District  ot 

18 


27-i  PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES. 

Columbia  from  the  frivolous  charges  aud  malicious  assaults 
effectually  estopped  all  further  proceedings  and  efforts  to 
repeal  the  charter.  The  question  was  not  again  raised  until 
1872,  and  then  only  as  a  charge  against  the  admission  of  those 
who  had  been  engaged  in  efforts  to  effect  the  repeal. 

During  the  interval  between  the  meetings  of  the  American 
Medical  Association  in  this  city  in  1870  and  its  meeting  at 
Philadelphia  in  1872,  the  Medical  Association  of  the  District 
of  Columbia  became  involved  in  the  controversy.  Dr.  D.  W. 
Bliss,  who  was  one  of  the  hostile  faction,  was  so  disappointed 
aud  incensed  at  the  result  that  he  defied  the  authority  of  the 
Code  of  Ethics,  and  publicly  and  privately  announced  his  de- 
termination to  pursue  his  own  will  regardless  of  the  restraints 
of  ethics.  He  was  the  same  Dr.  Bliss  who  had  been  exposed 
before  the  American  IMedical  Association  and  proven  guilty  of 
some  arrangement  with  the  keeper  of  a  hotel  to  have  his  name 
printed  on  the  menu  cards.  He  announced  his  purpose  to  con- 
sult with  any  physician  who  was  not  a  member  of  the  Medical 
Association  of  the  District  of  Columbia,  and  did  meet  Dr. 
C.  C.  Cox,  who  was  not  a  member  of  either  of  the  recognized 
medical  societies  of  the  District  of  Columbia,  in  consultation 
on  sundry  occasions,  for  which  he  was  arraigned,  tried,  con- 
victed, and  expelled  by  that  body,  with  but  one  dissenting 
vote.  Immediately  afterward  he  published  a  card  announcing 
to  the  public  his  expulsion  aud  appealing  for  support  in  his 
struggle  against  the  alleged  tyranny  of  the  regular  and  or- 
ganized profession  of  the  District  of  Columbia.  His  appeal 
did  not  bring  him  the  success  and  eclat  he  courted  and 
expected.  The  community  had  no  sympathy  with  a  man 
under  sentence  of  dishonor.  His  lucrative  business  dwindled 
to  a  meagre  livelihood,  until  finally,  after  numerous  written 
requests  for  suspension  of  the  sentence,  he  made  in  writing  a 
complete  confession  aud  apology,  and  was  restored  to  mem- 
bership in  the  Medical  Association  of  the  District  of  Co- 
lumbia.    The  conduct  of  Dr.  Bliss  provoked  the  Association 


PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES.  275 

to  assert  itself  very  decisively,  as  is  shown  in  the  proceedings 
of  the  American  Medical  Association  in  1872. 

During  the  same  interval  the  Medical  Association  of  the 
District  of  Columbia  amended  its  regulations  in  regard  to 
consultations  so  as  to  grant  to  all  physicians  of  African 
descent  wlio  would  conform  to  the  Code  of  Ethics  of  the 
American  Medical  Association  all  the  rights  and  privileges 
of  consultation  with  its  members. 

At  the  election  of  delegates  to  the  American  Medical  Asso- 
ciation to  assemble  at  Philadelphia  in  1872  the  Medical 
Society  and  Association  of  the  District  of  Columbia  selected 
such  members  as  had  continuously  adhered  to  the  policy  of 
1870.  Whilst  they  were  content  to  abide  by  the  decision  of 
1870,  they  knew  the  disfranchised  organizations  and  recusant 
members  of  the  profession  would  renew  the  controversy.  The 
delegates  went  to  Philadelphia  prepared  for  the  contest. 

The  Committee  of  Arrangements  at  Philadelphia  determined 
to  refuse  registry  to  all  delegates  from  the  medical  organiza- 
tions which  had  been  excluded  from  representation  at  ^yash- 
ington  in  1870,  and  informed  all  delegates,  both  the  legal 
and  disqualified,  of  this  conclusion  several  weeks  before  the 
time  of  meeting  of  the  Association.  At  Philadelphia  I  was 
again  elected  Chairman  of  the  regular  delegates  and  the  rep- 
resentative of  the  District  of  Columbia  on  the  Nominating 
Committee  of  the  American  Medical  Association.  As  the 
Chairman,  I  was  charged  with  the  conduct  of  the  interests  ot 
the  two  Societies,  and  was  required  to  state  to  the  Committee 
on  Ethics  the  condition  of  the  controversy  as  it  then  existed. 
The  questions  at  issue  before  it  grew  out  of  the  report  of  the 
Committee  of  Arrangements,  which  had  refused  registry  to 
those  delegates,  as  before  stated,  and  the  duty  devolved  upon 
me  to  supply  such  facts  as  would  support  the  indictment  of 
the  Committee  of  Arrangements.  The  report  of  the  Com- 
mittee on  Ethics,  which  was  adopted  with  but  few  dissenting 
votes,  sets  forth  the  issues  involved'  so  fully  that  it  is  repro- 


276  PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES. 

duced  here,  as  recorded  in  the  Transactions,  together  with  the 
proceedings  relating  to  it. 

The  Committee  on  Ethics  reported,  through  Dr.  N.  S.  Davis,  as 
follows  {Transactions  American  Medical  Association^  1872,  vol.  xxiii. 
p.  53): 

Second.  In  regard  to  the  official  communication  of  the  Correspond- 
ing Secretary  of  the  Medical  Association  of  the  District  of  Columbia, 
certifying  that  Drs.  John  D.  Barnes,  S.  S.  Bond,  A.  McWilliams, 
W.  E.  Poulton,  S.  B.  Blanchard,  S.  W.  Caldwell,  J.  L.  Crouse,  James 
Phillips,  and  George  Sylvester  have  forfeited  their  membership  in 
that  Society  by  reason  of  not  having  paid  their  dues  for  three  years, 
and  after  rej^eated  notices  of  the  fact  and  its  consequences,  your  com- 
mittee recommend  that  their  names  be  stricken  from  the  roll  of  mem- 
bershij),  in  accordance  with  the  fifth  paragraph  of  the  second  section 
of  the  Constitution  of  this  Association.  Also  the  same  in  regard  to 
Dr.  D.  W.  Bliss,  who  is  under  sentence  of  expulsion  from  the  same 
Society. 

On  motion  this  was  unanimously  adopted  by  the  Association. 

Third.  In  regard  to  alumni  associations  of  medical  colleges,  your 
committee  do  not  regard  them  as  such  medical  societies,  constituted 
of  a  permanent  local  membershij),  as  were  intended  by  the  second 
paragraph  of  Section  2  of  the  Constitution  of  this  Association,  and 
hence  they  recommend  that  no  delegates  be  received  from  any  of  the 
alumni  associations  of  medical  colleges  in  any  part  of  the  country. 

On  motion  this  was  unanimously  adopted  by  the  Association. 

Fifth.  In  regard  to  the  Academy  of  Medicine  of  Washington,  Dis- 
trict of  Columbia,  the  Freedmen's  Hospital  of  the  District  of  Columbia, 
and  the  Medical  Dejjartment  of  Howard  University,  the  registration 
of  whose  delegates  has  been  postponed  by  the  Committee  of  Arrange- 
ments on  account  of  want  of  good  standing  on  the  part  of  those  insti- 
tutions, as  indicated  by  the  action  of  this  Association  at  its  annual 
♦meetings  in  1870  and  1871,  and  by  information  communicated  to  that 
committee,  we  report  the  facts  as  follows  : 

1.  That  this  Association  at  its  meeting  in  San  Francisco,  May,  1871, 
by  the  emphatic  vote  of  83  to  26,  refused  so  to  amend  the  Constitu- 
tion as  to  admit  delegates  from  colleges  in  which  women  are  taught 
and  graduated  in  medicine,  and  hospitals  in  which  medical  women 
graduates  in  medicine  attend. 

2.  That  this  Association  at  its  annual  meeting  in  May,  1870,  de- 
clared by  an  almost  equally  emphatic  vote  that  a  medical  society  con- 
stituted in  part  of  members  who  are  not  licensed  to  practice  in  accord- 
ance with  the  civil  law  governing  the  practice  of  medicine  in  the  State 


PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES.  277 

or  district  in  which  the  society  is  located  is  not  entitled  to  representa- 
tion in  this  Association. 

3.  That  Sections  3,  4,  and  5  of  the  Act  of  Congress  of  July,  1838, 
incorporating  the  ^ledical  Society  of  the  District  of  Columbia,  and 
which  has  been  the  law  regulating  the  practice  of  medicine  in  that 
District  to  the  present  time,  requires  all  persons  coming  into  the  Dis- 
trict to  practice  medicine  to  apply  for  and  within  six  months  to  obtain 
a  license  to  practice  from  a  Board  of  Examiners  appointed  for  that 
purpose ;  and  make  it  a  misdemeanor,  punishable  by  a  fine  of  fifty 
dollars,  for  every  act  of  practice  without  such  license. 

4.  That  it  has  been  fully  proved  before  your  committee  by  the  tes- 
timony of  several  witnesses  that  the  medical  society  called  the  "Acad- 
emy of  Medicine"  of  Washington,  District  of  Columbia,  now  contains 
in  full  fellowship  at  least  four  or  five  members  who  have  never  applied 
for  or  obtained  license  to  practice,  and  yet  are  actually  practising  in 
the  District,  and  three  of  whom  are  on  the  list  of  delegates  sent  by 
the  society  to  represent  it  in  this  meeting  of  the  Association.  Also, 
that  one  of  these  same  unlicensed  men  is  a  member  of  the  Medical 
Staff"  of  the  Freedmen's  Hospital,  and  that  all  the  members  of  the 
Medical  Staff"  of  that  hospital  are  members  of  the  Academy  of  Med- 
icine. Also,  that  several  of  the  faculty  of  Howard  University  are 
members  of  the  same  Academy  of  Medicine,  and  one  of  the  teachers 
is  a  woman. 

This  report  was  signed  by  the  entire  committee. 

Hexry  F.  Askew, 

Chairman. 

X.  S.  Davis, 

Secretary. 

Calyix  Seavy. 
J.  K.  Bartlett. 
S.  D.  Gross, 

Dr.  Robert  Reyburn,  of  the  District  of  Columbia,  took  the  stand 
and  defended  his  claims  for  admission  as  a  delegate.  He  asserted 
that  the  Medical  Society  of  the  District  of  Columbia  required  the 
taking  of  a  license  for  no  good  purpose,  but  rather  for  its  own  emol- 
ument, and  that  it  had  licensed  homoeopathic  practitioners.  He 
asserted  that  the  law  requiring  licenses  had  been  disregarded  by  the 
local  courts,  and,  being  considered  unconstitutional,  could  not  be 
enforced.  The  Howard  University,  he  said,  received  all  who  applied 
for  medical  education  without  distinction  of  color  or  sex.  There  was 
an  aristocracy  in  the  profession  of  Washington  which  was  opposed  to 
this  and  to  all  medical  bodies  not  in  affinity  with  or  agreed  to  by  the 
Medical  Societv  of  the  District  of  Columbia. 


278  PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES. 

If  the  Asseciation  sees  fit  that  institutions  of  that  class  shall  not 
be  represented,  of  course  they  have  the  power  so  to  act;  but,  at  the 
same  time,  they  should  consider  well  what  they  were  doing  before 
taking  such  a  step. 

He  thought  that  every  human  being  should  be  allowed  the  right 
to  the  very  highest  development  that  God  has  made  him  capable  of. 

Dr.  Samuel  C.  Busey,  of  the  District  of  Columbia,  replied : 

He  would  not  have  taken  part  in  this  discussion  had  not  Dr. 
Eeyburn  made  accusations  against  the  Medical  Society  of  the  Dis- 
trict of  Columbia,  which  he  had  the  honor  in  part  to  represent  on 
this  floor,  and  that  he  would,  in  replying  to  that  gentleman,  confine 
himself  strictly  to  a  refutation  of  those  accusations. 

The  first  charge  uttered  by  Dr.  R.  was  that  the  Medical  Society  of 
the  District  of  Columbia  licensed  irregular  practitioners  of  medicine. 
He  would  not  deny  that  one  or  more  licentiates  of  that  Society  had 
pursued  the  practice  of  medicine  in  an  irregular  manner,  but  as 
the  law  of  Congress  incorporating  that  body  expressly  stipulated 
that  it  should  grant  licenses  to  all  "  gentlemen "  who  presented 
diplomas  from  regular  medical  colleges,  or  passed  a  satisfactory  ex- 
amination, after  four  years'  study,  he  denied  that  the  Society  was 
any  more  responsible  for  the  mode  of  practice  pursued  by  its  licen- 
tiates than  the  faculty  of  any  college  was  for  its  graduates,  and 
asserted,  without  fear  of  contradiction,  that  that  Society  had  never 
admitted  to  membership  any  irregular  practitioners  of  medicine.  He 
challenged  Dr.  Eeyburn  to  cite  a  single  instance,  and  charged  that 
Dr.  Reyburn  and  his  colleague,  Dr.  Palmer,  were  members  of  the 
Department  of  Hygiene  and  Medical  Sciences  of  the  Academy  of 
Literature,  Science,  and  Art,  which  organization  admitted  to  member- 
ship irregular  practitioners ;  that  both  were  professors  in  Howard 
University,  with  the  Faculty  of  which  a  woman  was  connected  as  a 
teacher;  and  that  they  and  others  were  associated  with  the  same 
female  in  a  public  dispensary  in  the  city  of  Washington. 

The  second  charge  made  by  Dr.  E.  was  that  the  Medical  Society  of 
the  District  of  Columbia  charged  the  fee  of  ten  dollars  for  its  license, 
and  that  it  used  the  money  thus  collected  for  improper  purposes. 

It  was  true  that  such  a  fee  was  charged  and  collected,  a  portion  of 
which  was  expended  in  defraying  the  ordinary  and  incidental  ex- 
pense ;  but  the  larger  portion  was  returned  to  the  licentiates  in  the 
form  of  a  diploma,  which  is  issued  to  every  licentiate ;  and  he  defied 
and  challenged  Dr.  Eeyburn  to  mention  one  instance  in  which  that 
Society  had  appropriated  one  dollar  of  its  funds  for  any  improper  or 
dishonorable  purpose. 

The  third  accusation  was  that  the  profession  of  the  District  of 


PERSOyAL  REMINISCENCES.  279 

Columbia  was  aristocratic.  Dr.  Busey  was  at  a  loss  to  know  by  what 
rule  or  criterion  Dr.  Keyburn  determined  the  aristocratic  feelings, 
sentiments,  or  acts  of  the  profesi^ion  in  the  District  of  Columbia.  As 
the  Medical  Society  licensed  all  males  who  presented  to  its  Board  of 
Examiners  a  diploma  from  a  regular  medical  school,  without  reference 
to  color,  social  standing,  or  pecuniary  responsibility,  he  could  not  dis- 
cover upon  what  basis  that  charge  could  rest. 

The  fourth  accusation  was  that  the  Society  had  not  attempted  to 
maintain  its  authority  through  the  local  courts.  This,  Dr.  B.  said,  was 
true.  The  profession  in  the  District  of  Columbia  had  not  and  would 
not  resort  to  the  courts  to  maintain  its  authority.  It  would  appear 
neither  in  the  courts  nor  in  the  halls  of  Congress  unless  dragged  there 
by  assaults  from  that  gentleman  and  those  acting  with  him  ;  but  when 
it  had  been  compelled  to  defend  itself  before  Congress  from  the  accu- 
sations made  by  Dr.  Reyburn  and  others  in  their  attempts  to  destroy 
its  character,  victory  had  come  to  that  Society,  and  defeat  and  morti- 
fication to  its  assailants.  The  members  of  the  profession  in  the  Dis- 
trict of  Columbia,  standing  upon  its  honor  and  dignity,  appealed 
neither  to  courts  nor  legislative  bodies,  but  to  their  peers— to  this 
body,  which  was  the  only  competent  arbiter  and  tribunal  to  deter- 
mine questions  of  medical  honor,  or  ethics,  and  professional  decorum. 
On  a  former  occasion  the  Medical  Society  of  the  District  of  Columbia 
had  successfully  met  these  issues  before  this  body,  and  it  appeals 
again,  with  confidence  of  a  triumphant  vindication. 

The  fifth  charge  was  that  Judge  Cartter  had  decided  that  the  law 
of  Congress  incorporating  the  Medical  Society  of  the  District  of 
Columbia  was  unconstitutional.  It  might  be  true  that  Judge  Cartter 
had  expressed  such  an  opinion,  but  certainly  no  question  had  been 
submitted  to  any  court  of  adjudication  involving  the  constitutionality 
of  the  law  of  Congress ;  nor  did  he  understand  how  one  judge  of  a 
bench  of  five  could  determine  the  constitutionality  of  a  law  of  Con- 
gress ;  and  holding,  as  he  did,  that  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United 
States  was  the  only  tribunal  which  could  positively  determine  such  a 
question,  before  which  no  question  concerning  the  Medical  Society  of 
the  District  of  Columbia  had  ever  been  brought,  he  denied  that  there 
was  any  foundation  for  such  a  statement. 

The  sixth  and  last  allegation  was  that  the  Medical  Society  of  the 
District  of  Columbia  maintained  that  no  other  medical  society  in  the 
District  of  Columbia  could  be  organized  without  its  sanction.  The 
Medical  Societj'  maintained  no  such  ridiculous  position.  It  simply 
held  that  the  law  of  Congress  governing  the  practice  of  medicine  in 
the  District  of  Columbia  must  be  complied  with;  and  while  societies 
might  organize  for  literary  purposes,  no  medical  society  or  hospital, 


280  PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES. 

or  other  medical  institution  in  the  District  of  Columbia  could  claim 
representation  in  this  Association  which  admitted  to  membership  or 
recognized  medical  men  and  women  who  were  not  qualified  by  the 
law  of  the  land  to  practice  medicine. 

In  conclusion,  Dr.  B.  said  the  profession  in  the  District  of 
Columbia  did  not  appear  there  as  jjrosecutors.  The  Committee  of 
Arrangements,  all  of  its  members  residing  in  the  city  of  Philadelphia, 
had,  in  the  faithful  and  impartial  discharge  of  its  duty,  excluded  the 
delegates  from  certain  institutions  in  the  District  of  Columbia,  hold- 
ing that  such  institutions  having  been  excluded  on  a  former  occasion 
for  sufficient  cause  could  not  be  admitted  until  they  were  purged  of 
their  offences  and  misdemeanors.  This  action  has  been  approved  by 
the  Committee  on  Ethics,  and  the  profession  of  the  District  of 
Columbia  stood  there  ready,  willing  and  determined  to  sustain  that 
decision,  and  appeal  to  this  body  to  reafl3.rm  its  decision  made  in 
Washington  in  1870.  It  appealed  to  this  body  to  encourage  and  sus- 
tain it  in  its  eftbrts  to  maintain  the  honor  and  dignity  of  the  profession 
and  its  determination  to  abide  by  and  uphold  the  law  of  the  land ; 
and  he  predicted  that,  should  this  body  reaffirm  its  former  decision 
by  adopting  the  recommendation  of  the  Committee  the  profession  of 
the  District  of  Columbia  would  appear  at  St.  Louis  in  1873  a  united 
and  harmonious  body. 

Dr.  J.  R.  Bronson,  of  Massachusetts,  asked  if  colored  physicians 
were  licensed  by  this  Board  ? 

Dr.  Busey  rejilied  that  they  were. 

Dr.  Palmer,  of  the  District  of  Columbia,  explained  his  position  as 
a  professor  in  the  Howard  University,  and  defended  the  appointment 
of  and  association  with  a  woman  lecturer  in  the  corps  of  teachers. 
He  said  he  had  not  practised  medicine  in  that  city,  and,  therefore, 
had  not  procured  a  license  as  the  law  requires.  He  admitted  that  he 
belonged  to  the  Section  of  Medicine  and  Hygiene  of  the  Washington 
Academy  of  Literature,  etc.  He  complained  that  he  had  been  refused 
admission  as  a  permanent  member,  and  had  been  denied  the  right  to 
defend  himself  against  the  charges  which  had  been  preferred  against 
him.  He  did  not  understand  why  he  should  be  excluded  from  this 
Association  on  account  of  his  connection  with  the  institution  which 
he  claimed  to  represent. 

On  motion  of  Dr.  L.  A.  Sayre,  of  New  York,  the  report  of  the 
Committee  on  Ethics  was  received  and  adopted  by  a  very  large 
majority. 

The  Medical  Society  and  Medical  Association  of  the  District 
of  Columbia   had  been  vindicated  at  Washington  in   1870. 


PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES.  281 

At  Philadelphia  they  secured  a  triumphant  and  overwhelming 
victory. 

The  weakness  of  the  defence  of  the  assailants,  who  had 
been  forced  to  plead  to  the  indictment  of  the  Committee  of 
Arrangements,  was  exhibited  in  the  repetition,  by  Dr.  Rev- 
burn,  of  the  charges  set  forth  in  his  protest  in  1870,  which 
the  Association  had  declared  unworthy  of  consideration.  In 
fact,  it  amounted  to  nothing  more  than  an  involuntary  con- 
fession of  the  justice  of  the  course  of  the  Committee  of 
Arrangements  in  refusing  to  permit  them  to  register. 

At  the  meeting  at  Philadelphia  but  two  or  three  of  the 
hostile  faction  appeared.  Bliss  was  under  sentence  of  expul- 
sion, and  Cox  had  retired  to  obscure  privacy.  Some  had  been 
dropped  from  the  roster  of  the  Association,  and  others  had 
abandoned  the  controversy  and  voluntarily  resumed  the  obli- 
gations of  duty  and  honor.  The  recusants  remained  where 
they  were  left,  in  the  exclusive  company  of  themselves.  Soon 
thereafter  the  '*  Department  of  Hygiene  and  Medical  Sciences 
of  the  Academy  of  Literature,  Science,  and  Art  "  disbanded 
without  leaving  any  memorial  of  its  brief  existence,  save  and 
except  the  foregoing  unsavory  record.  Its  members  *'  hung 
their  harps  upon  the  willows "  and  tuned  their  songs  in 
lamentation  and  humiliation. 

The  prediction  I  made  in  my  address  before  the  Association, 
that  the  reaffirmation  "  of  the  former  decision  by  the  adoption 
of  the  recommendations  of  the  Committee  "  would  produce 
unity  and  harmony  in  the  profession  of  the  District  of 
Columbia,  was  fulfilled.  The  controversy  and  strife  subsided, 
peace,  order,  and  good  feeling  were  speedily  restored,  and  all 
traces  of  the  feud  were  obliterated  and  forgotten. 

Since  that  decision  physicians  of  African  descent  have  at 
different  times  made  application  for  admission  to  the  Medical 
Association  of  the  District  of  Columbia,  but,  as  yet,  no  one  has 
been  elected.  At  the  last  election  Dr.  Francis  failed  of  elec- 
tion by  a  few  votes  less  than  the  necessary  two-thirds.  With 
such  a  decided   majority  in  his  favor  there  can  be  no  doubt 


282  PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES. 

of  his  success  at  the  next  election.  The  continuously  increas- 
ing vote  in  favor  of  their  admission  has  proven  conclusively 
the  justice  of  their  claim  to  the  full  enjoyment  of  all  the  rights 
and  privileges  of  an  organization  that  prescribes  the  rules  and 
regulations  governing  the  ethics  and  professional  intercourse 
of  medical  practitioners  in  the  District  of  Columbia,  and  is 
in  representative  affiliation  with  the  American  Medical  Asso- 
ciation. It  is  the  only  way  to  remove  their  disabilities  pre- 
scribed by  the  edicts  of  the  American  Medical  Association  as 
set  forth  in  the  reports  of  the  Committees  on  Ethics  in  1870 
and  1872,  and  adopted  by  that  body. 

These  results  have  shown  equally  conclusively  the  error  of 
the  course  pursued  by  the  hostile  faction  and  their  coadjutors. 
If  the  issues  had  been  allowed  to  follow  the  reasonable  and 
natural  course  of  events,  free  from  the  passion,  crimina- 
tion, and  recrimination  begotten  by  false  and  frivolous  accu- 
sations, together  with  the  attempts  to  abrogate  the  charter 
of  the  Medical  Society  of  the  District  of  Columbia,  the 
prejudice  of  caste  would  long  since  have  been  displaced  by 
the  innate  sense  of  justice  which  dominates  the  profession  of 
medicine. 

The  opposition  to  the  admission  of  female  physicians  was 
quite  as  vehement  and  far  more  general  than  to  the  physicians 
of  African  descent,  but  the  women  and  their  friends  accepted 
the  conditions  as  they  found  them,  and  waited  in  patience  for 
the  full  measure  of  justice  which  has  long  since  been  accorded 
to  them.  They  did  not  array  themselves  into  a  cabal  with 
hostile  intent  and  flaunt  their  accusations  and  grievances  in 
the  arena  of  popular  indignation.  For  many  years  past  the 
admission  of  women  physicians  to  the  Medical  Society  and 
Medical  Association  of  the  District  of  Columbia  has  been 
simply  a  question  of  the  eligibility  of  each  applicant. 

The  lessons  of  discretion  and  conciliation  taught  by  the 
prosecution  and  adjudication  of  this  controversy  have  not 
been  less  significant  and  important  than  the  settlement  of 
ambiguous  interpretations  of  the  Constitution  of  the  American 


PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES.  283 

Medical  Association.  The  determination  of  the  ineligibility 
of  delegates  claiming  to  represent  alumni  societies  of  medical 
colleges  and  of  non-resident  delegates  was  final,  and  has 
proven  satisfactory  to  the  profession  at  large.  It  set  forth, 
furthermore,  that  frivolous  and  vindictive  accusations  against 
societies  previously  in  good  standing  would  not  be  tolerated, 
and  that  medical  men  who  failed  or  refused  to  comply  with 
the  laws  regulating  the  practice  of  medicine  in  the  State  or 
locality  in  which  they  resided  and  pursued  the  practice  of 
their  profession,  could  not  secure  representation  in  that  body 
through  vicious  and  unethical  organizations,  nor  by  any  other 
device  in  contravention  of  the  code  of  ethics  and  laws  of  the 
land. 

This  controversy  led  to  the  discovery  that  representation 
was  multiplied  in  many  cities,  and  that  societies  might  be 
organized  for  the  sole  purpose  of  increasing  the  number  of 
delegates  from  a  particular  locality,  so  that  it  was  possible 
that  the  profession  in  the  city  or  State  in  which  it  might  meet 
could  so  multiply  its  representation  as  to  control  the  legisla- 
tion of  the  body.  Such  a  direct  and  flagrant  violation  of  the 
plain  intent  and  meaning  of  the  Constitution  needed  only  such 
an  exemplification  as  was  shown  to  have  occurred  in  1870  in 
this  city  to  demonstrate  the  necessity  of  some  amendment 
that  would  make  any  similar  effort  an  impossibility.  To  this 
end  I  prepared  and  offered  at  Detroit  in  1874  (Transact ioiis, 
vol.  XXV.  p.  38)  the  following  amendment,  which  was  adopted 
with  great  unanimity : 

The  amendments  to  the  plan  of  organization  offered  at  the  last  ses- 
sion were  next  taken  up. 

Offered  by  Dr.  N.  S.  Davis,  of  Illinois : 

Strike  out  the  second  paragraph  of  Article  II.  and  insert  the  fol- 
lowing : 

The  delegates  shall  receive  their  appointment  from  permanently 
organized  State  medical  societies  and  such  county  and  district  med- 
ical societies  as  are  recognized  by  representation  in  their  respective 
State  societies,  and  from  the  Medical  Department  of  the  Army  and 
Navy  of  the  United  States. 


284  PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES. 

Also  strike  out  the  fourth  paragraph  of  same  article  and  insert : 

Each  State,  county,  and  district  medical  society  entitled  to  repre- 
sentation shall  have  the  privilege  of  sending  to  the  Association  one 
delegate  for  every  ten  of  its  regular  resident  members,  and  one  for 
every  additional  fraction  of  more  than  one-half  of  that  number. 

After  some  discussion,  on  motion  of  Dr.  S.  C.  Busey,  of  the  District 
of  Columbia,  the  following  proviso  was  added  to  the  amendment : 

Provided,  however,  that  the  number  of  delegates  from  any  particular 
State,  Territory,  county,  city,  or  town  shall  not  exceed  the  ratio  ot 
one  in  ten  of  the  resident  physicians  who  may  have  signed  the  Code 
of  Ethics  of  this  Association. 

The  amendment,  with  the  proviso,  was  then  adoj^ted  by  a  large 
majority. 

Subsequent  to  this  action  of  the  American  Medical  Associ- 
ation the  Medical  Society  of  the  District  of  Columbia  aban- 
doned its  claim  of  representation  in  the  American  Medical 
Association,  thus  leaving  the  entire  representation  of  the  pro- 
fession of  the  District  of  Columbia  with  the  Medical  Associ- 
ation of  this  District,  which  is  the  only  medical  organization 
in  this  District  now  in  representative  affiliation  with  the 
American  Medical  Association. 


CHAPTER  XIV. 

The  Trial  and  Expulsion  of  Dr.  D.  W.  Bliss.  His  Reinstatement.  The 
Admission  of  Dr.  C.  C  Cox  to  the  Medical  Association  of  the  District 
of  Columbia. 

In  view  of  the  facts  aud  circumstances  cited  in  the  fore- 
going chapter  relating  to  the  conduct  of  Drs.  BHss  and  Cox, 
the  demands  of  impartial  justice  require  a  full  statement  of 
the  history  and  incidents  of  that  controversy,  that  the  con- 
donation of  their  offences  may  be  set  forth  with  equal  fairness 
and  impartiality. 

The  publicity  of  the  trial  and  expulsion  of  Dr.  Bliss  was 
the  inevitable  outcome  of  the  publication,  the  day  after  the 
passage  of  the  resolution  of  expulsion  by  the  Association,  of 
his  card  in  the  Washington  Chronicle,  announcing  to  the 
public  the  fact,  and  denying  the  power  of  the  Association  to 
discipline  him  ;  and,  subsequently,  his  expulsion  from  the 
American  Medical  Association,  assembled  in  public  meeting 
at  Philadelphia,  in  pursuance  of  the  following  communica- 
tion: 

At  the  annual  meeting,  April  2,  1872,  "Dr.  Busey  offered 
the  following  resolution,  which  was  adopted  :  " 

Resolved,  That  the  Secretary  be  instructed  to  transmit  a  copy  of 
the  majority  and  minority  reports  of  the  Standing  Committee  of  the 
Association  in  relation  to  the  case  of  Dr.  D.  W.  Bliss,  together  with 
a  report  of  the  action  of  the  Association  thereon,  to  the  Secretary  of 
the  American  Medical  Association,  to  be  laid  by  him  before  said 
Association, 

At  a  special  meeting  of  the  Standing  Committee,  June  13, 
1871,  the  Chairman,  Dr.  J.  AV.  H.  Lovojoy,  laid  before  it  the 
following;  letter : 


286  PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES. 

Washington  City,  May  27,  1871. 
To  the  President  and  Ilembers  of  the  Council  of  the  Medical  Association 
of  the  District  of  Columbia — 

Gentlemen  :  Newspaper  and  current  rumor  justifies  me  in  making 
the  charge  that  Dr.  D.  W.  Bliss,  a  member  of  the  Medical  Association 
of  the  District  of  Columbia,  has  been  and  now  is  in  consultation  with 
Dr.  C.  C.  Cox  (a  gentleman  known  by  him  as  being  a  rejected  appli- 
cant for  membership  in  the  Association),  thereby  disobeying  the  six- 
teenth (16th)  regulation  and  violating  his  sacred  obligation. 

I  deem  it  proper  to  call  your  attention  to  this  violation  of  said 
regulation,  particularly  as  Dr.  Bliss  has  publicly  and  openly  declared 
he  did  this  with  the  view  to  test  the  power  of  the  Association  to  in- 
terfere in  such  cases. 

As  he  is  a  prominent  member  of  the  profession,  I  deem  it  the  more 
proper  the  Association  should  take  cognizance  of  the  case. 

I  hope  prompt  consideration  of  it  will  be  had,  and  the  Council  will 
call  on  Dr.  Bliss  to  afiirm  or  deny  this  common  rumor,  for  the  vitality 
of  the  Association  depends  on  the  action  of  its  Council  at  this  time. 
Very  respectftilly,  yours,  etc., 

Thomas  Miller. 

Statements  were  also  made  to  the  committee  by  members 
thereof,  of  verbal  communications  made  to  them  by  members 
of  the  profession  in  corroboration  of  the  charge  made  by  Dr. 
Miller;  one  to  the  effect  that  Dr.  Bliss  "  had  said  that  he  had 
consulted  with  Dr.  Cox  and  intended  to  do  so  again,  in  defiance 
of  the  sixteenth  regulation,"  and  another  that  "  Dr.  Bliss  had 
publicly  made  the  statement  that  he  had  called  Dr.  C.  C.  Cox 
to  consult  with  him  in  the  case  of  the  Hon.  Schuyler  Colfax, 
to  test  the  power  of  this  Association  to  enforce  its  regulation, 
and  that  he  defied  its  authority."  Thereupon  the  committee 
directed  its  Secretary  to  communicate  in  writing  with  the 
members  named  and  request  each  one  of  them  to  state  in 
writing  all  the  facts  within  their  knowledge  in  connection 
with  the  declarations  made  to  them  by  Dr.  Bliss,  as  previously 
stated,  and  adjourned  to  meet  June  19th,  at  which  time  it 
requested  the  replies. 

At  the  adjourned  meeting  the  committee,  after  due  con- 
sideration of  the  charge  and  testimony  submitted,  adopted  the 
following  preamble  and  resolution  : 


PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES.  287 

Wliereas,  It  has  come  to  the  knowledge  of  the  Standing  Committee 
of  the  Medical  Association  of  the  District  of  Columbia  that  Dr.  D.  W. 
Bliss  did  meet  Dr.  C.  C.  Cox  (the  latter  not  being  a  member  of  the 
Association)  in  consultation  at  the  bedside  of  the  Hon.  Schuyler 
Colfax,  in  violation  of  the  sixteenth  (16th)  regulation,  therefore  be  it 

Resolved,  That  the  Secretary  be  instructed  to  communicate  to  Dr. 
D.  W.  Bliss  the  fact,  and  request  him  to  answer  in  writing  to  said 
charge. 

The  above  communication  was  accompanied  with  the  request 
that  he  would  respond  on  or  before  noon,  Monday,  June  26th, 
to  which  day  and  hour  the  committee  adjourned.  At  the 
meeting,  June  26th,  there  were  present  of  the  Standing  Com- 
mittee Drs.  Lovejoy,  Chairman,  D.  R.  Hagner,  Bulkley,  Mor- 
gan, Mackall,  Jr.,  A.  F.  A.  King,  Toner,  Busey,  and  J.  T. 
Young.     The  reply  of  Dr.  Bliss  was  read,  as  follows : 

Washington,  D.  C,  June  21,  1871. 
Dr.  James  T.  Young, 

Secretary  Medical  Association,  District  of  Columbia. 
Dear  Sir  :  Your  communication  reciting  the  fact  that  I  had  held 
a  consultation  in  the  case  of  Vice-President  Colfax  with  Dr.  C.  C. 
Cox,  of  this  city  (who  was  not  at  that  time  a  member  of  the  Medical 
Association  of  the  District  of  Columbia),  and  requesting  me  to  answer 
in  "  writing  said  charge,"  has  been  received,  and  in  reply  I  have  to 
say  that  I  did  consult  with  Dr.  Cox,  regarding  him,  as  did  my  illus- 
trious patient,  as  an  eminent  physician,  against  whom  no  possible 
charge  of  violation  of  the  ethics  of  the  profession  could  be  preferred, 
and  believing,  moreover,  that  the  prescriptive  rule  adDpted  by  the 
Association  in  his  case  wa.s  wholly  indefensible  and  would  invoke  the 
disapprobation  and  censure  of  the  entire  profession  throughout  the 
country  (as  it  has  done),  and  the  contempt  of  all  sensible  and  cool- 
iudging  people.  I  will,  moreover,  inform  you  that  I  have  violated 
your  rule  in  another  instance,  having  consulted  also  with  Dr.  Augusta, 
an  educated  and  reputable  colored  physician  (a  licentiate,  as  is  also 
Dr.  Cox,  of  the  Medical  Association  of  the  District  of  Columbia)  who 
has  equally  fallen  under  your  proscriptive  and  unwarrantable  ban. 
I  have  the  honor  to  be  yours,  etc., 

D.  W.  Bliss,  M.D. 

This  response  was  not  only  a  confession  of  his  wilful  guilt, 
but  an  insolent  and  defiant  insult  to  the  committee,  which  had 


288  PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES. 

treated  him  with  indulgent  consideration,  and  a  threat  of  such 
reprobation  and  detestation  as  men  without  principle,  but  with 
influence,  fancy  a  sympathizing  public  will  invoke  in  their 
behalf.  The  sequel  proved,  as  it  has  done  many  times  before 
and  since,  that  public  opinion  will  not  tolerate  dishonor,  even 
in  a  popular  and  influential  physician.  After  such  consider- 
ation of  the  charge,  testimony,  and  admissions  of  the  accused 
as  was  deemed  sufiicient,  the  committee  directed  its  chairman 
to  report  to  the  Association  its  findings  as  set  forth  in  the  pro- 
ceedings of  the  Association  at  the  meeting  held  July  3, 1871, 
as  follows  : 

Washington,  D.  C,  July  8,  1871. 
To  the  Medical  Association  of  the  District  of  Columbia  : 

The  following  resolutions  having  been  adopted  by  the  Standing 
Committee,  it  has  the  honor  to  report  them  to  the  Association  for  its 
consideration  : 

Resolved,  That  the  Standing  Committee  finds  Dr.  D.  W.  Bliss,  upon 
his  own  confession,  guilty  of  a  "  wilflil  violation  of  regulation  six- 
teen (16)." 

Resolved,  That  the  committee  is  of  the  opinion  that  Dr.  D.  W. 
Bliss  is  an  unworthy  member  of  the  Association,  and  it  recommends 
his  expulsion. 

Resolved,  That  a  copy  of  the  findings  and  recommendation  of  the 
committee  be  forwarded  to  Dr.  D.  W.  Bliss,  also  the  date  of  the 
meeting  of  the  Association. 

J.   W.   H.   LOVEJOY, 

Chairman  Standing  Committee. 

James  T.  Young, 

Secretary. 

A  minority  report  was  offered  and  read  as  follows  ; 

Wiereas,  Article  XVI.  of  the  regulations  of  the  Medical  Associa- 
tion of  the  District  of  Columbia  declares  : 

No  member  of  this  Association  shall  consult  with  or  meet  in  a  pro- 
fessional way  any  resident  practitioner  of  this  District  who  is  not  a 
member  thereof  after  said  practitioner  shall  have  resided  six  months 
in  said  District. 

And  Whereas,  Article  XXII.  of  said  Association  declares  that 
Every  practitioner,  at  the  time  of  becoming  a  member  of  this  Asso- 
ciation, shall  sign  the  following  obligation,  viz. : 


PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES.  289 

"  The  undersigned  do  approve  of  the  regulations  and  system  of 
medical  ethics  adopted  by  the  Medical  Association  of  the  District  of 
Columbia,  and  do  agree  on  their  honor  to  comply  with  the  same." 

And  Whereas,  Dr.  D.  W.  Bliss,  a  member  of  this  Association,  did 
subscribe  to  the  said  obligations,  and  has  openly  and  defiantly  vio- 
lated Article  XVI.  of  the  said  regulations ;  therefore, 

Resolved,  That  the  said  Dr.  D.  W.  Bliss  be  and  he  is  hereby  sus- 
pended from  membership  of  the  Medical  Association  of  the  District 
of  Columbia  until  he  has  reasonable  time  to  give  evidence  of  his 
desire  to  place  himself  in  pi'oper  relation  with  the  Association. 

James  E.  Morgan. 
J.  M.  Ton^er. 

Both  the  majority  and  minority  reports  convicted  the  accused 
of  the  charges,  so  that 

The  question  upon  confirming  the  decision  of  the  committee  in 
finding  Dr.  Bliss  guilty  of  a  "  wilful  violation  "  of  regulation  16  was, 
on  division,  carried  by  a  vote  of  42  in  favor  of,  1  against. 

Dr.  Morgan  now  withdrew  the  minority  report,  and  offered  the  reso- 
lution recommending  suspension,  contained  therein,  as  a  substitute 
for  the  recommendation  of  the  committee. 

After  the  substitute  was  discussed  by  several  members  it  was  voted 
upon  and  rejected. 

Dr.  Palmer  moved  the  adoption  of  the  resolution  recommending 
the  expulsion  of  Dr.  Bliss  offered  in  the  report  of  the  committee 
which  was  carried. 

The  first  vote  determined  the  guilt  of  the  accused,  which  was 
decided  in  the  affirmative  by  more  than  the  required  two- 
thirds  of  42  ayes  to  1  nay.  At  a  subsequent  meeting  (No- 
vember 28,  1871)  the  member  (Dr.  Reyburn)  voting  nay  is 
credited  with  the  following  declaration  : 

In  the  course  of  his  explanation  said  he  would  not  now  vote  as  he 
did  on  a  former  occasion,  against  the  expulsion  of  a  certain  member, 
for  he  would  not  defend  any  man  who  goes  beyond  the  prescribed 
rules  of  regular  practice. 

The  second  vote  determined  the  punishment,  which  required 
only  a  majority  vote,  and  was  carried  as  recommended  by  the 
majority  of  the  committee. 

19   . 


290  PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES. 

Five  years  afterward,  at  the  semi-annual  meeting,  October 
3,  1876,  Dr.  Bliss  renewed,  as  follows,  his  application  for  re- 
admission,  which  had  been  several  times  previously  rejected, 
and  was  re-elected  by  the  vote  of  31  ayes  to  1  nay : 

Washingtos,  D.  C,  October  3,  1876. 

To  the  President,  Censors,  and  Members  of  the  Medical  Association  of  the 
District  of  Columbia  : 

Gentlemen  :  I  have  tlie  honor  to  apply  for  readmission  to  mem- 
bership in  the  Medical  Association,  from  which  I  was  expelled  for 
cause  some  four  years  since.  I  have  now  pursued  the  practice  of 
my  profession  for  more  than  twenty-six  years,  and  believe  I  have 
always  sustained  the  spirit  of  true  professional  ethics  with  the  single 
notable  exception  for  which  I  was  disciplined  by  this  Association. 
Since  that  time  I  have  endeavored  to  so  guide  my  professional  con- 
duct as  to  regain  the  confidence  and  respect  of  the  medical  gentlemen 
composing  the  Association  and  secure  the  reinstatement  and  recog- 
nition I  so  much  desire. 

I  would  respectfully  refer  you  to  my  letter  of  explanation  and  apol- 
ogy to  the  Association  accompanying  my  application  for  membership 
last  year,  and  also  to  the  inclosed  statements  of  Messrs.  Helphenstine 
&  Bently  relative  to  the  use  of  my  name  in  an  advertising  sheet  pub- 
lished by  them,  indirectly  connecting  their  proprietary  medicine, 
known  as  a  "Eheumatic  Kemedy." 

In  conclusion,  permit  me  to  assure  you  that  should  you  favorably 
consider  my  application  and  reinstate  me  to  full  fellowship  I  will 
strictly  conform  to  the  Code  of  Ethics  and  feel  ever  grateful. 
Very  respectfully,  your  obedient  servant, 

D.  W.  Bliss. 

Previous  to  his  readmission  he  had  confessed  to  several 
members  that  from  the  day  of  his  expulsion  his  business  had 
been  continuously  decreasing  until  his  income  was  inadequate 
to  support  his  family. 

The  arraignment,  trial,  and  punishment  of  Dr.  Bliss  was 
one  of  the  most  notable  and  instructive  events  in  the  history 
of  the  profession  in  this  District.  He  was  at  the  time  a  very 
popular  physician,  probably  holding  the  largest  clientele  in  this 
city,  attending  more  distinguished  public  men  than  any  resident 
physician,  and  commanding  more  influence  in  the  halls  of  Con- 


PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES.  291 

gress  than  any  score  of  other  medical  men.  He  had  been  most 
active  and  unreserved  in  the  efforts  to  secure  the  abrogation  of 
the  charter  of  the  Medical  Society  of  the  District  of  Columbia, 
and  had  made  public,  in  boast  and  braggadocio,  his  purpose  to 
drive  the  profession  into  acceptance  of  his  policies  and  teachings 
of  ethics.  He  had,  moreover,  made  public  the  connection  of  the 
accusation  against  him  with  the  case  of  the  Vice-President  of 
the  United  States,  feeling  confident  by  such  course  he  could 
" invoke  the  disapprobation  and  censure,"  .  .  .  "and  the 
contempt  of  all  sensible  and  cool-judging  people,"  and  with  his 
shibboleth  of  power  and  popularity  prosecute  his  purpose  as 
he  thought  would  most  effectually  dominate  the  profession  and 
drive  it  to  a  drivelling  compliance  with  his  extraordinary  de- 
mands. He  was,  however,  dealing  with  men  and  an  organized 
body  of  men  who  could  neither  be  intimidated  nor  influenced 
by  outside  pressure  and  popular  and  partisan  disapprobation. 
They  had  the  "  courage  of  their  convictions  "  and  the  will  to 
execute  their  conclusions.  Others  may  call  it  prejudice,  nar- 
row-mindedness, or  envy.  Be  that  as  it  may,  the  results 
established  the  courage  and  wisdom  of  the  proceedings,  and 
left  no  stain  to  tarnish  the  reputation  of  the  Medical  Associa- 
tion of  the  District  of  Columbia. 

The  most  important  lesson  taught  by  this  event  was  but  the 
repetition  of  one  often  taught  before  and  occasionally  since, 
to  the  effect  that  a  physician  may  successfully  contest  an  accu- 
sation, but  never  an  expulsion  from  an  organization  which 
carries  with  it  the  stigma  of  professional  dishonor. 

The  second  lesson  refers  to  the  course  of  the  profession 
during  that  eventful  period.  As  stated  in  the  preceding 
chapter,  the  Medical  Society  had  been  assailed  with  violence 
by  a  small  faction  of  its  membership,  and  the  entire  profession 
had  become  involved  in  a  most  angry  and  turbulent  quarrel. 
Nevertheless  the  large  majority,  which  controlled  both  the 
Society  and  the  Association  persistently  pursued  the  policy  to 
reassert  and  re-establish  their  authority,  to  vindicate  their 
honor  and  self-respect,  to  bring  to  the  bar  of  justice  the  re- 


292  PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES. 

cusant  and  guilty  members,  and  to  hold  firmly  in  the  grasp 
of  organized  power  the  just  and  impartial  enforcement  of  the 
Code  of  Ethics,  to  which  its  members  had  voluntarily  sub- 
scribed and  agreed  "  on  their  honor  to  comply  with."  It  re- 
established the  supremacy  of  order  and  obedience  to  constituted 
authority. 

The  condonation  was  as  full  and  complete  as  the  punish- 
ment. When  the  sentence  had  exhausted  itself  in  the  ostra- 
cism and  poverty  of  the  victim,  restoration  to  the  Association 
and  confidence  of  his  peers  was  as  unanimous  as  the  verdict  of 
expulsion,  but  he  never  regained  his  former  popularity  and 
influence  with  the  community  at  large. 

One  year  later,  July  25,  1877,  the  following  application  of 
Dr.  C.  C.  Cox  was  reported  from  the  Board  of  Censors,  with 
the  recommendation  that  he  be  admitted  to  membership  : 

Washington,  D.  C,  July  10,  1877. 

To  the  President  and  Members  of  the  Medical  Association  of  the  District 
of  Columbia  : 

Gentlemen  :  Proud  of  the  noble  calling  in  which  we  have  a  com- 
mon interest,  and  entertaining  only  sentiments  of  personal  kindness 
and  good-will  toward  those  who  practise  its  responsible  functions,  I 
cannot  consent,  without  one  more  effort,  longer  to  remain  in  the  un- 
pleasant state  of  isolation  to  which  the  rejection  of  my  application 
for  membership  subjects  me. 

For  the  tirst  time  in  a  long  professional  career  I  find  myself,  by  the 
ruling  of  your  Association,  excluded  from  the  privileges  and  benefits 
of  consultation  with  any  medical  confrh-e  at  the  bedside  of  the  sick. 

Without  proposing  to  discuss  their  action  or  call  in  question  the 
right  of  your  body  to  adopt  and  enforce  its  own  regulations,  I  am 
frank  to  admit  that  this  extraordinary  divorce,  extending  through  a 
number  of  years,  has  been  and  is  to  me  a  source  of  inexpressible 
mortification  and  regret ;  I  therefore  again  tender  my  application  for 
admission  into  the  Association,  pledging  my  best  efforts  to  uphold  the 
honor  of  the  profession  and  cordially  to  co-operate  in  its  elevation 
and  impressment. 

Not  being  made  aware  of  the  specific  objections  urged  against  my 
admission  (which  I  would  gladly  meet),  I  can  only  say  that  should  any 
act  of  mine,  directly  or  indirectly,  have  reflected  injuriously  upon  the 


PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES,  293 

profession  or  Association  I  exceedingly  regret  it,  and  am  prepared  to 
tender  the  amplest  apology  for  any  wrong  inflicted  under  sudden 
impulses  or  false  impression. 

If  in  the  past  any  feeling  of  hostility  may  have  been  entertained 
by  me  against  any  member  of  the  Faculty,  it  has  long  since  ceased 
to  rankle  in  my  breast,  and  if  I  have  done  injury  to  any  member  of 
the  profession  I  am  prepared  to  make  the  largest  amends  consistent 
with  a  sense  of  honor  and  self-respect. 

Trusting  that  this,  my  final  application,  may  receive  your  favorable 
consideration, 

I  am,  very  respectfully. 

Your  obedient  servant, 

Chris.  C.  Cox. 

Dr.  Cox  was  elected  to  membership  by  a  vote  of  52  ayes 
to  9  nays.  Thus  ended  the  Bh"ss-Cox  imbroglio,  and  the  last 
vestige  of  the  discontent  and  bad  feeling  growing  out  of  the 
efforts  to  abrogate  the  charter  of  the  Medical  Society  of  the 
District  of  Columbia  was  completely  obliterated.  Both  of 
these  gentlemen  have  since  died,  but  their  memories  are 
crowned  with  honorable  amends  for  the  offences  which  their 
peers  deemed  sufficient  justification  for  the  prosecution  and 
punishment.  Their  final  applications  exhibited  the  utmost 
good  feeling  and  good-will,  and  elicited  an  equally  cordial 
response  in  the  unanimity  of  the  condonation  of  their  con- 
freres and  peers. 


CHAPTER  XY. 

Controversy  with  the  Board  of  Health. 

In  1874  the  Board  of  Health,  composed  in  part  of  Drs. 
Bliss,  Cox,  and  Verdi,  not  one  of  whom  was  a  member  of  the 
Medical  Association  of  the  District  of  Columbia,  adopted  and 
issued  a  series  of  "  regulations  to  secure  a  full  aud  correct 
record  of  vital  statistics,  including  the  registration  of  mar- 
riages, births,  and  deaths,  the  interment,  disinterment,  and 
removal  of  the  dead  in  the  District  of  Columbia,"  and  to 
require  every  physician  to  register  his  name  and  residence  at 
its  office. 

A  number  of  physicians,  of  whom  I  was  one,  refused  to 
register  because  of  certain  provisions  of  the  regulations.  Of 
such  I  was  the  first  to  return  a  certificate  of  death  after  the 
regulations  went  into  effect,  on  the  first  day  of  August,  1874. 
This  certificate  the  Board  refused  to  accept,  and  notified  me 
that  it  would  not  permit  the  body  to  be  buried  unless  I  com- 
plied with  the  regulations  and  registered  at  its  office.  I  per- 
sisted in  my  refusal  to  register,  notwithstanding  the  service  of 
several  mandatory  orders  to  do  so.  Finally  the  body  was 
buried,  and  I  was  served  with  a  notice  that  I  would  be  prose- 
cuted to  the  utmost  extent  of  the  law.  I  appealed  to  the  Med- 
ical Association,  and  a  special  meeting  was  called  for  August 
12th,  upon  the  petition  of  Drs.  Ashford,  Barker,  and  Sowers. 
Dr.  Barker,  in  explaining  the  object  of  the  meeting,  said  "  it 
was  generally  known  that  the  Board  of  Health  of  the  District 
of  Columbia  had  recently  issued  certain  regulations  to  secure 
a  correct  record  of  vital  statistics  in  the  District  of  Columbia, 
and  that  as  a  difference  of  opinion  existed  in  regard  to  com- 
plying with  certain  of  said  regulations  iu  their  present  form. 


'PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES.  295 

they  (the  signers),  after  cousultation  with  other  members  of 
the  Association,  determined  to  call  the  meeting  in  order  to 
elicit  an  expression  of  the  profession  and  to  sec  if  some 
measure  could  not  be  adopted  which  would  induce  the  Board 
to  modify  the  objectionable  articles  so  that  physicians  might 
comply  with  them  without  violating  professional  honor." 

Dr.  Eliot  said  "  he  had  seen  the  Registrar,  and  the  latter 
had  said  the  Board  wanted  to  quietly  settle  the  matter,  and 
would  be  glad  to  have  a  conference  with  a  committee  of  the 
Association.  They  did  not  wish  to  compel  a  strict  compliance 
with  the  regulations.  They  desired  physicians  to  do  nothing 
incompatible  with  their  professional  honor." 

I  then  offered  the  following  resolutions  : 

Whereas,  The  Board  of  Health  of  the  District  of  Columbia  has 
adopted  and  promulgated  a  series  of  reffulations  claiming  to  be  under 
and  by  virtue  of  the  authority  of  an  Act  of  the  Congress  of  the  United 
States,  entitled  "An  Act  to  further  define  and  enlarge  the  powers  and 
duties  of  the  Board  of  Health  of  the  District  of  Columbia,"  approved 
June  23, 1874,  which  provides  "  That  it  shall  be  the  duty  of  the  Board 
of  Health  of  the  District  of  Columbia  to  make  and  enforce  regula- 
tions to  secure  a  full  and  correct  record  of  vital  statistics,  including 
the  registration  of  deaths  and  the  interments  of  the  dead  in  said 
District;"  and 

Wliereas:,  It  is  believed  that  said  Board  in  the  "  Third "  and 
"  Eighth  "  of  said  series  of  regulations  has  exceeded  its  authority 
and  imposed  ujjon  physicians  duties  and  requirements  which  ought 
not  to  be  fulfilled  ;  and 

Wiereas,  Said  Board,  acting  through  its  Secretary  and  Registrar, 
has  exceeded  the  scope  of  its  own  jjublished  regulations  in  that  it  has 
threatened  to  withhold  a  "burial  permit"  for  the  interment  of  the 
bodies  of  persons  attended  during  their  last  sickness  by  any  physician 
who  may  have  failed  or  refused  to  comply  with  regulation  "  Eighth," 
notwithstanding  the  certificate  of  death  may  have  been  made,  signed, 
and  delivei'ed  by  such  attending  physicians  according  to  the  form 
prescribed  by  regulation  "Fourth;"  therefore  be  it 

Resolved,  First.  That  compliance  with  the  requirement  of  regulation 
"Third,"  which  prescribes  "That  any  physician  ....  who 
shall  attend,  assist,  or  advise  at  the  birth  of  any  child  within  the 
District  of  Columbia  shall  report  to  the  Registrar  aforesaid  within  six 
days  thereafter,  stating  distinctly  the  date  of  birth,  sex,  and  color  ot 


296  PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES. 

the  child  or  children  born,  its  or  their  physical  condition,  whether 
stillborn  or  not,  the  full  name,  nativity  and  residence  of  the  parents, 
and  the  maiden  name  of  the  mother  of  such  child  or  children,  and  for 
failure  to  comply  with  regulation  '  Ninth '  denounces  a  penalty  of 
from  twenty-five  to  two  hundred  dollars,"  would  compel  the  medical 
attendant  to  make  a  public  record  of  the  history  of  every  newborn 
infant;  to  expose  the  hereditary  and  congenital  diseases  and  de- 
formities of  unfortunates,  many  of  which  are  remedial ;  to  inquire 
into  and  record  the  vices  and  crimes  of  illegitimacy ;  to  publish  the 
secret  physical  history  of  every  family ;  to  expose  to  public  examina- 
tion information  which  he  derives  from  his  confidential  relations  to 
his  patient ;  to  make  him  the  channel  through  which  calumny  or 
revenge  could  be  propagated,  recorded,  and  promulgated,  by  com- 
pelling him  to  fixrnish  the  name  of  any  man  whom  the  mother  of  an 
infant  born  out  of  wedlock  might  choose  or  be  subsidized  to  declare 
was  the  father  of  her  illegitimate  child ;  to  degrade  a  child  through 
life  with  the  record  of  an  infamous  birth ;  and,  finally,  to  expose  to 
calumny  and  slander  virtuous  parents  whose  first  child  might  be  born 
previous  to  the  completion  of  the  ninth  month  of  their  married  life, 
since  by  regulation  "  Second "  each  marriage  ceremony  solemnized 
"  must  be  recorded  in  the  same  office  within  forty-eight  hours  therein- 
after." 

Second.  That  regulation  "  Eighth,"  which  provides  "That  it  shall 
be  the  duty  of  every  physician,  accoucheur,  midwife,  undertaker, 
sexton,  or  superintendent  of  any  cemetery,  or  other  person  having 
charge  of  the  same,  practising  medicine  or  doing  business  within  the 
District  of  Columbia,  to  register  his  or  her  name  in  a  book  or  books 
to  be  provided  for  such  purpose  at  the  office  of  the  Board  of  Health 
of  said  District,  giving  full  name,  residence  or  place  of  business,  and 
in  case  of  removal  from  one  place  to  another  in  said  District  to  make 
change  in  said  register  accordingly,"  would  seem  to  recognize  the 
right  of  any  person  who  may  choose  to  register  as  a  physician,  ac- 
coucheur, or  midwife,  to  practise  medicine  in  the  District,  and  is, 
therefore  a  violation  of  the  laws  of  Congress,  entitled  "An  Act  to 
revive  with  amendments  An  Act  to  incorporate  the  Medical  Society 
of  the  District  of  Columbia,"  approved  July  7, 1838,  and  "An  Act  to 
incorporate  the  Washington  Homoeopathic  Medical  Society,"  approved 
April  22,  1870 ;  besides,  being  wrong  in  spirit,  degrading  to  the  pro- 
fession, injurious  to  the  well-being  of  society,  and  contrary  to  the 
teachings  accepted  by  all  intelligent  people  that  none  but  persons 
specially  educated  therefor  should  be  allowed  to  practise  the  science 
of  medicine,  or  are  competent  to  make  a  proper  mortuary  report. 

Third.     That  the  medical  profession  of   this  District  cheerfully 


PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES.  297 

accept  the  Act  of  Congress  al)ove  referred  to  in  all  its  proper  and 
legal  requirements,  and  will  unite  with  the  Board  of  Health  in  every 
reasonable  and  practical  effort  "to  secure  a  full  and  correct  record  of 
vital  statistics,  including  the  registration  of  deaths  and  the  interment 
of  the  dead,"  and  to  that  end  they  hereby  individually  pledge  them- 
selves to  report  to  the  Registrar  of  said  Board  the  birth  of  every  child 
at  which  they  maj'  "attend,  advise,  or  assist,"  giving  all  useful  and 
proper  information  concerning  the  same,  but  in  no  case  furnishing 
the  names  of  the  parents  or  the  physical  condition  of  the  infant. 

Fourth.  That  while  denying  the  power  of  said  Board  to  require 
any  physician  to  register  in  the  office  of  the  Registrar  of  said  Board, 
while  the  names  and  addresses  of  all  legally  qualified  practitioners  in 
this  District  who  may  be  members  of  this  Association  will  be  cheer- 
fiillj''  furnished  by  this  Society  on  application  to  its  Secretary,  the 
individual  members  will  not  object  to  registering  in  the  office  of  the 
Registrar  of  said  Board,  provided  proper  precautions  be  taken  to 
prevent  unqualified  persons  from  registering,  and  that  no  mortuary 
or  birth  certificate  will  be  received  unless  signed  by  some  one  of  such 
registered  persons  or  such  other  person  as  may  be  legally  qualified  to 
sign  such  certificate. 

Fifth.  That  a  committee  of  five  be  appointed  by  the  Chair  to  pre- 
sent a  copy  of  these  resolutions  to  the  Board  of  Health,  and  to  fur- 
nish the  same  to  such  of  the  city  papers  as  may  desire  to  publish 
them. 

The  preambles  and  resolutious  were  adopted  and  the  Chair 
(Dr.  F.  Howard)  appointed  Drs.  J.  Eliot,  W.  W.  Johnston, 
Busey,  Lovejoj,  and  Bulkley  on  the  committee. 

After  a  conference  with  the  Board  of  Health,  followed  by 
a  protracted  correspondence,  the  Committee  submitted  its 
report  to  the  Association,  in  which  it  set  forth  in  detail  the 
conference  and  the  correspondence  in  full,  and  concludes  as 
follows : 

It  will  then  be  perceived  that  the  objections  of  the  Medical  Asso- 
ciation to  the  rules  and  regulations  of  the  Board  of  Health,  as  indi- 
cated in  the  resolutions,  have  been  removed  so  far  as  the  Board  of 
Health  considers  it  has  the  power  under  a  law  equally  binding  upon 
physician  and  Board. 

First.  An  assurance  from  the  Board  of  Health  that  none  but  gradu- 
ates in  medicine  or  licentiates  of  some  legally  authorized  medical 


298  PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES. 

institution  will  be  permitted  to  register  their  names  in  the  books  pre- 
pared for  such  purpose  by  the  Board  of  Health. 

Second.  That  the  names  of  parents,  their  residence,  and  the  physi- 
cal condition  of  illegitimate  or  children  prematurely  born,  shall  not 
be  divulged  in  any  report  made  to  the  Board  of  Health. 

In  view  of  these  concessions  on  the  part  of  the  Board  of  Health 
the  Committee  recommends :  1st.  That  the  returns  of  births  be  made 
omitting  the  names  of  the  parents  of  illegitimate  and  premature 
children  and  such  details  as  may  violate  sick-bed  and  confidential 
relations.  2d.  That  while  denying  the  rights  of  the  Board  of  Health 
to  compel  physicians  to  register  at  their  office,  the  Committee  recom- 
mend the  members  of  the  Association  to  record  their  names  in  the 
book  kept  for  that  purjjose  at  the  office  of  the  Board  of  Health. 

The  report  was  adopted,  with  a  vote  of  thauks  from  the 
Association. 

Subsequent  to  this  action  of  the  Association,  August  28, 
1874,  the  Board  of  Health  adopted  the  following  modifica- 
tions of  regulations  "third"  and  "eighth." 

First.  It  is  hereby  ordered  that  physicians  required  to  register  their 
names  under  the  eighth  regulation  of  the  Board,  to  secure  a  full  and 
correct  record  of  vital  statistics,  do  so  upon  a  license  received  from 
some  chartered  medical  societ}',  or  upon  a  diploma  received  from 
some  medical  school  or  institution. 

Second.  That  the  expression  "  physical  condition,"  as  employed  in 
the  statute  heretofore  enacted  by  the  legislative  assembly  of  the 
District,  and  incorporated  in  the  third  regulation,  be  defined  as  fol- 
lows :  "  The  general  physical  condition,"  whether  healthy  or  un- 
healthy. But  in  no  case  will  the  Board  require,  in  the  enforcement 
of  this  rule,  that  sick-bed  or  confidential  communications  made  to 
physicians  be  revealed  in  the  rej^ort  required  by  this  third  regulation. 

In  consequence  of  some  legal  technicality,  it  was  thought 
necessary  to  have  the  ordinances  of  the  Board  of  Health  re- 
enacted  by  Congress,  which  was  done  August  7,  1894,  in  the 
following  terras  : 

That  the  ordinances  of  the  late  Board  of  Health  of  the  District  of 
Columbia,  as  legalized  by  joint  resolution  of  Congress,  approved 
April  24,  1880,  be,  and  the  same  are  hereby  declared  to  have  the  same 
force  and  effect  within  the  District  of  Columbia  as  if  enacted  by 


PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES.  299 

Congress  in  the  first  instance,  and  that  the  powers  and  duties  imposed 
upon  the  late  Board  of  Health,  in  and  by  said  ordinances,  are  hereby 
conferred  upon  the  Health  Officer  of  said  District,  and  that  all  prose- 
cutions for  violations  of  said  ordinances  and  regulations  shall  be  in 
the  Police  Court  of  the  District  of  Columbia  in  the  name  of  said 
District :  Provided,  that  said  regulations  shall  not  be  enforced  against 
established  industries  which  are  not  a  nuisance  in  fact. 

It  would  seem  that  this  euaetraent,  which  declares  the  ordi- 
nances of  the  late  Board  of  Health  to  have  all  the  "  power 
and  effect "  of  a  law  of  Congress,  has  invested  its  successor, 
the  Health  Officer,  under  the  "  eighth  "  regulation,  as  modified 
by  its  ordinance  of  August  28,  1874,  with  ample  authority  to 
limit  registration  to  physicians  practising  medicine  in  this 
District  to  those  who  may  have  a  license  "  from  some  chartered 
medical  society,"  or  a  diploma  "  from  some  medical  school  or 
institution."  And  when  these  recent  enactments  are  considered 
in  connection  with  the  provisions  of  Sections  3  and  5  of  the 
charter  of  the  Medical  Society  of  the  District  of  Columbia 
the  conclusion  seems  reasonable,  at  least  to  laymen,  that  the 
enforcement  of  these  laws  would,  at  least  in  some  measure, 
banish  from  this  jurisdiction  the  disreputable  charlatans  and 
insolent  impostors  that  prey  upon  the  community.  It  may 
then  be  shown,  in  the  near  future,  that  a  great  and  far-reach- 
ing good  has  grown  out  of  this  controversy,  which  had  its 
origin  in  the  refusal  of  one  man  to  comply  with  regulations 
of  the  late  Board  of  Health. 

The  Board  of  Health  which  was  abolished  by  a  law  of 
Congress  approved  June  11,  1878,  was  constituted  of  five 
persons,  appointed  by  the  President,  by  and  with  the  advice 
and  consent  of  the  Senate,  and  was  composed  of  one  physi- 
cian under  sentence  of  expulsion  from  the  Medical  Association 
of  the  District  of  Columbia,  another  under  duress  of  several 
rejections  by  the  same  body,  and  a  third  not  in  the  line  of 
fraternal  association,  and  two  other  persons,  more  interested 
in  partisan  politics  and  emolument  than  in  sanitary  science. 
The  controversy  grew  out  of  the  attempt  to  humiliate  the 


300  PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES, 

profession  by  compelling  physicians  to  disclose  the  confidence 
of  professional  relations  and  by  admitting  to  register  those 
classes  of  impostors  that  have  been  driven  from  thirty-eight 
States  and  several  Territories  by  the  enactment  of  medical 
practice  laws. 

It  is  worthy  of  note  that  the  same  President  of  the  Asso- 
ciation who  had,  contrary  to  parliamentary  usage,  appointed  a 
chairman  with  a  majority  of  the  Committee  in  opposition  to 
the  proposed  revision  (1874)  of  the  rules  and  regulations  of 
the  Association,  appointed  a  member  Chairman  of  the  Com- 
mittee directed  to  conduct  and  manage  this  controversy  in 
behalf  of  the  Association  who  was  known  to  be  opposed  to 
the  spirit  and  purpose  of  the  resolutions  adopted  by  the  Asso- 
ciation. In  the  first  instance  he  succeeded  in  defeating  the 
expressed  will  of  the  Association,  but  in  the  latter  a  like  pur- 
pose proved  futile. 


CHAPTEK  XVI. 

The  Arraignment  of  Physicians  in  the  Government  Service  for  Violations 
of  the  Rules  and  Regulations  of  the  Medical  Association  of  the  Dis- 
trict of  Columbia.  Prosecution  and  Acquittal  of  Surgeon  J.  H.  Baxter. 
Prosecution  and  Acquittal  of  Surgeon  Basil  Norris.  Prosecution  and 
Acquittal  of  Dr.  A.  Y.  P.  Garnett.  Angry  controversy.  Prevalent 
bad  temper.     Final  settlement. 

It  has  been  shown  in  a  previous  chapter  that  the  Medical 
Association  of  the  District  of  Columbia  was  organized  and 
established  mainly  through  the  instrumentality  of  Surgeon- 
General  Lovell  and  Surgeon  Henderson,  of  the  Army. 
Whether  or  not  the  regulation  limiting  consultations  to 
membership  was  a  part  of  the  original  constitution,  by-laws, 
and  system  of  ethics  cannot  be  determined ;  but  if  not,  it  must 
have  been  adopted  at  an  early  date  in  the  history  of  this  Asso- 
ciation. I  prefer  to  believe  that  it  was  a  provision  of  the 
original  draft  of  the  constitution,  as  otherwise  the  Association 
would  have  fallen  short  of  segregating  the  men  of  low  and 
bad  repute,  which  was  set  forth  as  one  of  the  most  important 
purposes  of  its  organization.  It  does  not  appear,  however, 
that  the  arraignment  of  any  member  for  its  violation  in  meet- 
ing in  consultation  any  member  of  either  the  Army  or  Navy 
Medical  Corps,  not  at  the  time  a  member,  occurred  prior  to 
November,  1871. 

Loose  observance  and  flagrant  violation  of  the  rules  and 
ethics  of  the  Association,  especially  of  the  local  code  then  in 
force,  had  become  so  prevalent,  perhaps  growing  out  of  the 
general  demoralization  of  the  war  and  disturbances  of  1869-72, 
that  the  Standins;  Committee  was  charo-ed  with  the  investi<>;a- 

o  ^  c^ 

tion  of  such  offences  as  early  as  April,  1870,  when  Dr.  Thomas 
Miller  charged  that  certain  members  of  the  Medical  Associa- 


302  PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES. 

tion  of  the  District  of  Columbia  had  violated  the  regulations 
of  the  Association  by  organizing  a  so-called  National  Medical 
Society  and  associated  themselves  with  persons  not  members 
of  the  Medical  Association,  and  that  they  had  publicly  pro- 
claimed a  willingness  to  consult  with  such  persons  in  defiance 
of  the  regulations  of  the  Medical  Association. 

This  occurred  early  during  the  controversy  of  1869-72 
(see  Chapter  XIII.),  when  the  profession  was  riven  by  dis- 
sensions and  personal  animosities  growing  out  of  that  lament- 
able disturbance.  The  Standing  Committee  was  so  reluctant 
to  prosecute  such  an  investigation  without  admonition  to  those 
accused  and  under  suspicion  that  it  advised  a  more  conserva- 
tive procedure,  and,  upon  my  motion,  recommended  to  the 
Association  the  adoption  of  the  following  preamble  and  reso- 
lution : 

Wliereas,  It  is  believed  that  the  rules  and  regulations  of  this  Asso- 
ciation are  not  strictly  conformed  to  by  certain  members ;  and, 

Wliereas,  There  are  physicians  practising  medicine  in  this  District 
not  members  of  the  Association ;  therefore  be  it 

Resolved,  That  from  and  after  the  fifteenth  day  of  May,  1871,  this 
Association  will  hold  every  member  to  a  strict  observance  of  its  regu- 
lations, and  the  Standing  Committee  is  hereby  instructed  to  investi- 
gate every  offence  which  may  come  to  its  knowledge,  and  submit  its 
recommendations. 

The  adoption  and  publication  of  this  resolution  by  the 
Association,  April,  1871,  was  a  distinct  proclamation  of  am- 
nesty for  all  previous  oiFences,  and,  at  the  same  time,  an 
equally  definite  revival  and  assertion  of  its  right  and  purpose 
to  prosecute  all  offenders. 

The  arraignment  and  expulsion  of  Dr.  D.  W.  Bliss  followed 
soon  thereafter ;  and  later,  during  the  same  year,  Dr.  Thomas 
Miller  preferred  charges  against  Dr.  W.  P.  Johnston  for  meet- 
ing in  consultation  the  late  Surgeon  Maxwell,  of  the  Navy, 
who  was  at  the  time  the  surgeon  stationed  in  this  city  to 
attend  the  Navy  officers,  their  families,  and  such  other  per- 
sons as  were  legally  entitled   to   his   professional   services. 


PERSONAL  EEMiyiSCENCES.  303 

These  charges  were,  after  full  consideration  by  the  Standing 
Committee,  dismissed,  as  follows : 

Dr.  Busey  offered  the  following  preamble  and  resolution : 

^V^^ereas,  In  the  matter  of  the  charge  brought  by  Dr.  Miller  against 
Dr.  Johnston  for  violating  regulation  16,  it  is  clearly  proven  that  Dr. 
Maxwell  consented  to  join  the  Medical  Association,  or  to  retire  from 
attendance  upon  the  patient  in  order  to  relieve  Drs.  Hall  and  W.  P. 
Johnston  from  the  embarrassment  growing  out  of  the  consultation 
with  them,  and  has  since  joined  the  Association ;  and, 

Whereas,  It  is  believed  that  Dr.  Thomas  Miller  preferred  the  charge 
against  Dr.  W.  P.  Johnston  to  vindicate  the  authority  of  the  Associ- 
ation, which  has  been  accomplished ;  therefore  be  it 

Hesolved,  That  the  charges  against  Dr.  W.  P.  Johnston  be  dis- 
missed. 

Previous  to  this  prosecution  it  seems  to  have  been  held,  and 
properly. so,  as  stated  by  Dr.  Hall  in  his  communication  to 
the  Standing  Committee,  that  Army  and  Navy  Surgeons  on 
duty  in  this  city  were  non-residents,  and,  like  transient  phy- 
sicians, not  amenable  to  the  rules  and  regulations  of  any  local 
association.  Such  interpretation  of  the  relations  of  the  sur- 
geons of  the  Military  Corps  and  civil  practitioners,  and  the 
practice  in  accordance  therewith,  seems  to  have  been  aban- 
doned or  modified  in  consequence  of  the  preceding  investiga- 
tion, for  during  its  consideration,  or  immediately  after  its 
conclusion  — 1871  —  Surgeon  Charles  D.  Maxwell,  of  the 
Navy,  and  Surgeons  J.  H.  Baxter  and  Basil  Norris,  of  the 
Army,  made  application  and  were  admitted  to  full  member- 
ship in  the  Association.  These  admissions  constitute  the 
initial  act  in  the  prolonged  and  angry  disturbance  that  ensued. 
If  the  Standing  Committee  and  Association  had  based  the 
defence  and  exculpation  of  Dr.  W.  P.  Johnston  upon  the 
broad  and  generous  principle  previously  the  rule  of  conduct, 
notwithstanding  the  regulation  limiting  consultation  to  mem- 
bership, the  succeeding  criminations  and  recriminations,  which 
let  loose  the  "  dogs  of  war,"'  would,  in  some  measure  at  least, 
have  been  averted.  The  admission  of  these  surgeons  brought 
them  within  the  penal  obligations  of  the  two  systems  of  ethics 


304  PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES. 

and  the  regulations  then  in  force  upon  precisely  the  same 
footing  as  the  members  in  civil  life. 

The  discontent  and  complaints  which  previous  to  their 
admission  had  been  confined  to  a  few  of  the  civil  members 
continued  to  increase,  and  became  so  prevalent  and  serious 
that  Dr.  A.  Y.  P.  Garnett,  more  courageous  than  his  col- 
leagues, initiated  an  investigation  by  the  introduction  of  the 
following  resolutions : 

First.  That  a  committee  of  five  (5)  be  api^oiuted  to  ascertain  to 
wliat  extent  medical  ofl3.cers  of  the  Army  and  Navy  of  the  United 
States  are  permitted  while  on  duty,  by  the  laws  of  Congress  or  the 
regulations  of  the  Army  or  Navy,  to  engage  in  private  practice  ;  and 
in  what  manner  and  by  what  means  such  medical  officei's  on  duty  in 
AVashington  have  solicited  the  patronage  of  persons  other  than  Army 
and  Naval  officers  in  active  service,  and  perpetrated  violations  of  the 
Code  of  Ethics  required  by  all  honorable  and  respectable  members  of 
the  medical  profession. 

Second.  That  said  committee  be  required  to  report  at  a  called 
meeting  within  ten  days  the  result  of  said  inquiry. 

The  President  appointed  Drs.  A.  Y.  P.  Garuett,  J.  W.  H. 
Lovejoy,  S.  C.  Busey,  J.  Eliot,  and  W.  H.  Ross  on  the 
committee. 

At  a  subsequent  meeting  the  committee  submitted  the  fol- 
lowing report : 

Your  committee,  having  duly  executed  the  duty  imposed  upon  them 
by  a  resolution  adopted  at  the  last  meeting  of  the  Association,  respect- 
fully report : 

That  in  order  to  fully  and  accurately  comply  with  the  instructions 
contained  in  said  resolution,  they  proceeded  to  obtain,  first,  such  infor- 
mation as  related  to  the  authority  under  the  regulations  of  the  Army 
and  Navy  given  medical  officers  whilst  on  duty  to  engage  in  private 
practice,  and  to  render  professional  services  to  others  than  the  officers 
of  the  Army  and  Navy.  By  reference  to  the  revised  Army  regula- 
tions of  1863,  page  312,  paragraph  1295,  they  find  upon  this  subject 
the  following : 

"  Medical  officers  where  on  duty  will  attend  to  officers  and  enlisted 
men,  and  the  laundresses  and  servants  authorized  by  law,  and  at  sta- 
tions where  other  medical  attendance  cannot  be  procured ;  on  marches, 


PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES.  305 

the  hired  men  of  the  Army  and  the  families  of  officers  and  soldiers. 
Medicines  will  be  dispensed  to  the  families  of  officers  and  soldiers, 
and  to  all  persons  entitled  to  medical  attendance.  Hospital  stores  to 
enlisted  men." 

It  will  be  seen  by  this  paragraph,  although  ambiguously  and  badly 
expressed,  that  only  at  stations  where  other  medical  attendance  can- 
not be  procured  are  medical  officers  on  duty  required  or  expected  to 
attend  others  than  those  persons  or  officers  attached  to  the  Army  of 
the  United  States  ;  and  whilst  there  seems  to  be  no  expressed  prohi- 
bition, it  is  plain  from  the  language  used  that  where  other  medical 
attendance  could  be  had  it  was  the  intention  of  those  framing  the 
regulations  that  medical  office  rs  should  not  engage  in  civil  practice, 
thereby  employing  their  time  and  professional  services,  paid  for  by 
the  Government,  in  a  manner  not  specified  by  the  regulations. 

Upon  this  point  your  committee  beg  to  state  that  they  have  ex- 
amined somewhat  in  detail  into  the  practice  which  has  obtained  here 
in  this  city  for  the  past  ten  or  twelve  years,  and  find  that  it  has  been 
and  still  is  the  custom  of  certain  Army  Medical  Officers  on  duty  here 
in  Washington  to  engage  extensively  in  private  practice,  rendering 
their  services,  for  the  most  part,  gratuitously  and  in  many  instances 
supplying  parties  not  immediately  connected  with  the  army  with 
medicines  and  hospital  sup  plies  irom  the  Army  Dispensary  of  this 
city.  That  so  far  has  this  practice  been  pursued  that  Presidents  of 
the  United  States,  we  are  informed,  have  not  hesitated  to  avail  them- 
selves of  the  services  of  any  Army  Medical  Officer  stationed  here  for 
themselves  and  families,  and  permitted  him  to  supply  them  with 
medicines,  etc.,  from  the  public  dispensary  belonging  to  the  United 
States.  This  practice  on  the  part  of  the  Chief  Magistrate  of  the 
States,  we  are  informed,  was  initiated  by  President  Johnson  and  fol- 
lowed by  his  successor,  President  Grant,  during  both  of  his  terms  as 
President  of  the  United  States.  In  the  latter  case  it  appears  he  not 
only  recognized  and  availed  himself  of  the  benefits  of  this  custom, 
but  permitted  his  influence  to  be  used  to  retain  at  this  post  the  par- 
ticular Medical  Officer  who  had  held  such  relations  to  his  family,  and 
who,  under  the  rules  of  the  Department,  should  have  been  transferred 
to  some  other  post  on  duty.  So  far,  indeed,  was  this  prerogative  ex- 
ercised by  President  Grant  that  this  same  Medical  Officer  was  required 
more  than  once  to  leave  his  legitimate  duties  here  in  Washington  and 
visit  distant  points  for  the  purpose  of  attending  the  family  of  the 
President.  It  is  due  to  President  Grant  to  add,  in  this  connection, 
that  previous  to  his  term  there  was  a  contract  surgeon  detailed  to 
attend  the  domestics  employed  at  the  Executive  Mansion,  which  was 
abolished  by  him.    It  is  scarcely  necessary  to  direct  your  attention  to 

20 


306  PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES. 

the  disadvantage  under  wliicli  the  civil  practitioners  of  medicine  here 
in  Washington  are  placed  by  this  system  of  Medical  Officers  of  the 
Army  rendering  their  services  on  such  a  large  scale  gratuitously,  with 
the  additional  important  consideration  of  having,  in  many  instances, 
the  medicines  furnished  free  of  cost  to  the  parties  attended.  Your 
resolution  having  instructed  us  to  inquire  into  the  professional  con- 
duct of  Medical  Officers  of  the  Navy,  as  well  as  those  of  the  Army  of 
the  United  States,  we  find  upon  investigation  that  there  is  but  one 
Surgeon  of  the  Navy  on  duty  here  who  engages  in  private  practice, 
and  that  he  is  in  the  habit  of  charging  for  his  services. 

As  regards  the  second  part  of  the  resolution  and  the  information 
called,  for  as  therein  designated,  your  committee  report  that  having 
exercised  due  diligence  in  communicating  with  certain  members  of 
the  profession  whom  they  had  reason  to  suppose  could  furnish  the 
desired  information,  and  requested  of  each  a  written  statement  em- 
bracing such  violations  of  the  Code  of  Medical  Ethics  on  the  part  of 
Medical  Officers  of  the  Army  and  Navy  of  the  United  States  as  had 
come  within  their  knowledge  and  belief,  but  three  (3)  gentlemen  have 
been  found  who  were  willing  to  comply  with  that  request ;  the  testi- 
mony supplied  by  these  is  amply  sufficient  to  prove  that  the  ethics  of 
the  profession  have  been  clearly  violated  and  that  the  conduct  of 
certain  Army  Surgeons  stationed  in  this  city  has  been  undignified 
and  discourteous,  but  the  committee  do  not  feel  willing  to  present 
this  testimony  without  the  consent  of  these  gentlemen. 

Regarding  the  terms  of  the  resolution  as  mandatory,  and  acting 
under  a  high  sense  of  duty  to  the  body  of  which  we  are  members,  as 
well  as  to  the  profession  at  large,  we  are  not  disposed  to  shirk  from 
the  obligations  imposed  upon  us  of  indicating  at  least  one  instance  of 
gross  violation  of  medical  ethics  as  represented  upon  the  authority  of 
one  member  of  your  committee,  and  fully  sustained  by  the  evidence 
of  other  parties  above  referred  to,  we  here  incorporate  the  written 
statement  of  Dr.  A.  Y.  P.  Garnett : 

Washington,  D.  C,  May  22,  1877. 

For  the  information  of  the  committee  I  beg  to  state  that  I  am 
informed  upon  the  most  positive  and  reliable  authority  that  Dr.  J.  H. 
Baxter,  of  the  United  States  Army,  a  member  of  the  Medical  Associa- 
tion of  the  District  of  Columbia,  did,  sometime  about  the  latter  part 
of  April  or  first  of  May,  express  a  desire  or  willingness  to  visit  a  lady 
patient  of  mine,  at  the  time  under  treatment  by  me,  stating  that  he 
felt  a  great  interest  in  the  case,  and  that  if  the  patient  referred  to 
would  i^ermit  he  would  call  upon  her,  examine  her,  and  make  a  diag- 
nosis of  the  disease,  at  the  same  time  declaring  a  disbelief  in  the 


PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES.  307 

expressed  opinion  of  the  attending  physician  as  to  the  nature  of  her 
malady. 

That  the  said  Dr.  Baxter  was  fully  aware  that  the  lady  was  then 
under  my  constant  attendance,  and  that  he  wilfully  made  this  propo- 
sition with  a  full  knowledge  of  that  fact. 

(Signed)        A.  Y.  P.  Garnett,  M.D. 

Recognizing  this  body  as  a  Court  of  Ethics  having  jurisdiction  over 
all  subjects  affecting  the  good  standing,  integrity,  and  honorable 
deportment  of  all  its  members,  we  hold  that  it  is  not  only  competent 
for  your  committee,  but  obligatory  upon  them,  to  refer  in  connection 
with  this  statement  to  the  professional  standing  and  general  conduct 
of  the  party  accused  of  transactions  which  we  must  characterize  as 
unprofessional  and  derogatory  to  the  honorable  standing  of  the  mem- 
bers of  this  Association.  We  do  not  hesitate,  therefore,  to  state  that 
such  conduct  as  that  above  indicated  has  been  repeatedly  charged 
against  Dr.  J.  H.  Baxter  in  a  general  way,  and  has  doubtless  been 
heard  by  most  of  the  members  of  this  body. 

In  presenting  these  statements  reflecting  upon  the  individual  whose 
conduct  we  had  under  review  we  desire  to  disclaim  emphatically  being 
influenced  by  any  prejudice  or  hostile  feeling  toward  the  Medical  Staff 
of  the  United  States  Army ;  a  large  majority  of  those  on  duty  here 
we  regard  as  gentlemen  of  the  highest  character,  intelligence,  and 
culture,  and  esteem  them  as  ornaments  to  the  profession  as  well  as  the 
service  to  which  they  belong. 

(Signed)        Alex.  Y.  P.  Garxett,  M.D. 

J.  W.  H.  Love  JOY,  M.D. 

JoHxsox  Eliot,  M.D. 

Samuel  C.  Busey,  M.D. 

The  report  of  the  Special  Committee  of  five  was  referred 
by  the  Association  to  its  Standing  Committee.  Subsequently 
formal  charges  in  writing  were  filed  with  said  Committee 
against  Surgeon  J.  H.  Baxter.  After  a  protracted  considera- 
tion of  the  report  of  the  Special  Committee,  together  with  the 
specific  charges  and  the  voluminous  testimony  offered  in  proof 
of  the  charges  and  by  Surgeon  Baxter  in  his  own  vindication, 
the  Standing  Committee  submitted  the  following  report  ex- 
onerating Surgeon  Baxter,  which  was  adopted  by  the  Asso- 
ciation by  a  large  majority: 


308  PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES. 

Washington,  D.  C,  July  25, 1877. 
To  the  Medical  Association  of  the  District  of  Columbia  : 

In  the  case  of  Garnett  v.  Baxter,  the  Standing  Committee  find 
that  the  charge  and  specifications  are  not  proven,  and  the  Committee 
beg  further  to  report  that  no  charges  have  been  made  to  the  Com- 
mittee against  any  other  medical  ofiicer  of  the  Army  or  Navy. 

The  following  resolution  was  passed  at  a  subsequent 
meeting  of  the  Standing  Committee : 

Resolved,  That  in  addition  to  the  report  as  to  the  charges  against 
Dr.  Baxter  being  not  proven,  the  Standing  Committee  desire  to  state 
that,  in  their  opinion,  Dr.  Baxter  is  innocent  of  the  violation  of  the 
Code  of  Ethics  or  of  the  By-laws  of  the  Medical  Association  as  charged 
against  him. 

Second  Part  of  the  Report. 

Whereas,  In  the  report  of  the  Special  Committee  of  the  Association 
which  has  been  referred  to  this  Committee  for  consideration  it  is 
alleged,  "  That  it  has  become  and  still  is  the  custom  of  certain  Army 
Medical  Officers  on  duty  here  in  Washington  to  engage  extensively 
in  private  practice,  rendering  their  services  for  the  most  part  gratui- 
tously, and  in  many  instances  supplying  patients  not  immediately 
connected  with  the  Army  with  medicines  and  hospital  supplies  from 
the  Army  Dispensary  of  this  city ;  "  and 

Whereas,  It  is  made  the  duty  of  this  Committee  (see  regulation 
five)  "to  attend  to  and  decide  on  all  matters  which  regard  the  honor 
and  interest  of  the  Association,  and  especially  all  infringements  of 
its  regulations  which  may  come  to  their  knowledge ;"  it  has,  there- 
fore, devolved  upon  this  Committee  to  inquire  into  the  truth  of  the 
allegation  set  forth  in  the  foregoing  paragraph  copied  from  the  report 
of  the  Special  Committee ;  and,  if  true,  whether  the  offence  is  an  in- 
fringement of  any  regulation  of  this  Association  or  of  the  Code  of 
Ethics. 

By  regulation  twenty,  "  The  privilege  of  consultation  is  extended 
to  Medical  Officers  of  the  Army  and  Navy  without  their  having  be- 
come members,  provided  such  officers  do  not  engage  in  general 
practice  among  civilians." 

By  the  Code  of  Ethics  of  this  Association  (see  article  entitled  Ex- 
emption from  Charges),  "  omission  to  charge  on  account  of  the 
wealthy  circumstances  of  the  physician  is  denounced  as  an  injury  to 
the  profession,  as  it  is  defrauding  in  a  degree  the  common  fund  of  its 
support ;  and  by  the  Code  of  Ethics  of  the  American  Medical  Asso- 
ciation (Article  7)  it  is  declared  to  be  a  point '  of  honor '  to  adhere  to 


PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES.  309 

the  rules  governing  '  pecuniary  acknowledgments  '  with  as  much  uni- 
formity as  varying  circumstances  will  admit.  The  Committee  there- 
fore conclude  that  the  allegation,  if  true,  is  an  infringement  of  the 
Code  of  Ethics  of  this  and  of  the  American  Medical  Association." 

By  the  revised  Army  regulations  of  1863,  paragraph  1295,  medical 
officers  "  when  on  duty  are  required  to  attend  the  officers  and  enlisted 
men,  and  the  laundresses  and  servants  authorized  by  law ;  and  at 
stations  where  other  medical  attendance  cannot  be  procured,  on 
marches,  the  hired  men  of  the  Army,  and  the  families  of  officers  and 
soldiers." 

It  is  therefore  manifest  that  it  is  no  part  of  the  duty  of  the  Army 
Medical  Corps,  when  stationed  in  this  city,  to  render  professional 
services  or  to  supply  medicines  to  others  than  those  enumerated  in 
the  foregoing  regulations,  and  that  when  such  services  are  rendered 
it  is  the  individual  act  of  the  surgeon,  for  which  he  should  be  held 
responsible,  if  in  rendering  such  service  he  commits  any  infringement 
of  the  regulation  or  Code  of  Ethics  of  this  or  of  the  American  Medi- 
cal Association ;  and 

Whereas,  It  has  come  to  the  knowledge  of  the  Committee  "  That  it 
has  been  and  still  is  the  custom  of  Army  Medical  Officers  on  duty 
here  in  Washington  to  engage  extensively  in  private  practice,  render- 
ing their  services  gratuitously  to  persons  able  to  defray  the  expense  of 
the  medical  attendance,  and  in  some  instances  supplying  parties  not 
immediately  connected  with  the  Army  with  medicines;"  therefore, 
be  it 

Resolved,  That  in  the  opinion  of  the  Committee  such  practice  on  the 
part  of  Medical  Officers  of  the  Army  is  derogatory  to  the  honor  and 
detrimental  to  the  interests  of  the  profession. 

Resolved,   Secondly,   that  the   members   of  this   Association   feel 

aggrieved  at  these  infringements  of  the  rules  of  the  Association  and 

violation  of  their  individual  rights,  and  hope  that  it  will  be  only 

necessary  to  call  the  attention  of  those  so  offending  to  the  fact,  in 

order  to  secure  the  discontinuance  of  these  practices. 

(Signed)        Louis  Mackall, 

President. 

Cornelius  Boyle, 

Vice-President . 

Z.   T.   SOAVERS, 

Secretary. 

G.  L.  Magruder, 

Treasurer. 
W.  W.   JOH>^STON. 
J.   C.   ElLEY. 

A.  F.  A.  King. 

I  sign  only  the  concluding  part,  which  refers  to  general  allegations. 

(Signed)        S.  C.  Busey. 


310  PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES, 

I  was  not  a  member  of  the  Standing  Committee  during  its 
investigation  of  the  charges  against  Surgeon  Baxter,  and  took 
no  part  in  these  deliberations.  After  it  had  reached  the  find- 
ing "■  that  the  charge  and  specifications  are  not  proven"  I  was 
elected  to  fill  a  vacancy  in  the  Committee  and  was  present  at 
the  subsequent  meeting,  when  the  resolution  declaring  "  Dr. 
Baxter  innocent  of  the  violation  of  the  Code  of  Ethics  or  of 
the  By-laws  of  the  Medical  Association  as  charged  against 
him,"  but  took  no  part  in  its  consideration,  because  I  had  not 
read  the  testimony  and  knew  nothing  whatsoever  of  its  pro- 
ceedings relating  thereto.  I  did,  however,  sign  and  approve 
that  part  of  the  report  designated  as  the  "  second  part  of  the 
report." 

After  the  adoption  of  that  part  of  the  report  exonerating 
Surgeon  Baxter  the  Association  recommitted  "  the  second 
part  of  the  report "  to  the  Standing  Committee.  This  was  a 
distinct  expression  that  the  Association  was  not  willing  to 
rest  the  consideration  of  the  issues  involved  at  that  point,  and 
was  unwilling  to  accept  the  conclusion  of  the  Committee  as 
indicated  in  its  resolutions  of  admonition  to  the  alleged  vio- 
lators of  the  courtesies  and  ethics  of  the  profession.  The 
discontent  was  so  prevalent  and  marked  that  the  Committee 
continued  the  investigation,  and  to  make  such  investigation 
complete  and  final  it  issued  the  following  circular  to  the 
members  of  the  Association : 

Washington,  D.  C,  September,  1877. 

Sir  :  'Whereas,  It  is  currently  reported  and  believed  by  many  mem- 
bers of  the  Association  that  one  or  more  surgeons  in  the  Army  or 
Navy  of  the  United  States  stationed  in  this  District  have  rendered 
gratuitous  medical  services  and  supi^lied  medicines  or  other  hospital 
stores  to  persons  not  connected  either  with  the  military  establishment 
of  the  United  States,  or  entitled  by  law  to  such  services,  medicines, 
or  hospital  stores  ;  and 

Whereas,  In  a  sjDecial  report  submitted  to  the  Association,  July 
25th,  it  was  stated  in  general  terms  that  such  i^ractices  had  been  in- 
dulged in,  to  which  exception  was  taken  because  of  the  implied  accu- 
sation of  innocent  parties,  therefore  the  committee  has  deemed  it 


PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES. ^  311 

projier,  in  order  that  uo  innocent  member  may  rest  under  any  impu- 
tation growing  out  of  this  investigation,  to  address  the  following 
interrogatories  to  the  members  of  the  Association  : 

First.  Have  you  any  personal  or  professional  knowledge  that  any 
Army  or  Navy  Surgeon,  including  contract  surgeons  on  duty  in  this 
District,  has  rendered  gratuitous  professional  services  or  supplied 
medicines  or  other  hosi)ital  stores  to  any  others  than  those  entitled  by 
law  to  such  services  and  such  supplies  ? 

Second.  If  so,  give  the  name  of  such  officer  or  officers,  and,  if  not 
inconsistent  with  your  professional  obligations  to  any  patient,  furnish 
such  information  concerning  the  alleged  abuse  as  may  relate  to  the 
subject.  If  such  information  is  withheld  because  of  any  professional 
obligation,  state  such  fact  in  your  anwer. 

Third.  Have  you  any  knowledge  that  medicines  or  hospital  stores 
ordered  by  yourself  or  other  regular  practitioners  in  this  District 
have  been  supplied  from  either  the  Army  or  Naval  dispensaries 
located  in  this  District?  If  so,  state  the  facts  and  circumstances 
relating  to  the  same. 

The  committee  feel  and  believe  the  frank  and  candid  answers  of  the 
members  to  the  foregoing  interrogatories  will  enable  it  to  dispose  of 
the  issues  now  pending  before  it  to  the  satisfaction  of  the  profession, 
and  therefore  indulges  the  hope  that  the  members  of  the  Association 
will  respond  promptly  to  the  inquiries. 

With  great  respect,  we  remain  your  obedient  servants, 

Louis  Mackall,  Jr., 

President. 

Cornelius  Boyle, 

Vice-President. 

Z.  T.  Sowers, 

Secretary. 

G.  L.  Magruder, 

Treasurer. 

A.  F.  A.  King, 

J.    C.   ElLEY, 

W.  W.  Johnston, 

S.   C.   BUSEY, 

J.   W.   H.   LOVEJOY, 

Councillors. 
Standing  Committee  of  the  Medical  Association 
of  the  District  of  Columbia. 

P.  S. — The  committee  respectfully  request  you  to  address  your  reply 
to  the  Secretary,  Dr.  Z.  T.  Sowers,  1324  New  York  Avenue,  within 
five  days  from  this  date.  Z.  T.  Sowers, 

Secretary. 


312  ,PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES. 

After  careful  examination  of  the  written  testimony  adduced  in  the 
replies  to  the  above  circular  the  Standing  Committee  submitted  the 
following  report  to  the  Association  at  an  adjourned  meeting,  held 
November  1,  1877 : 

The  Standing  Committee  have  the  honor  to  report  the  following 
resolution  as  embodying  the  result  of  its  investigation  in  the  case  of 
the  Association  versus  other  Medical  Officers  of  the  Army  and  Navy : 

Resolved,  That  after  a  patient  and  careful  investigation  of  the  matter 
referred  to  the  Standing  Committee,  the  Committee  have  obtained  no 
information  sufficient  to  convict  any  member  of  the  Association  of 
any  wilful  violation  of  the  regulations  or  ethics  of  the  Association, 
but  are  constrained  to  report  that  the  evidence  before  the  Committee 
and  the  complaints  of  certain  members  show  that  there  have  been 
irregularities  in  the  Army  Medical  Dispensary  by  which  such  mem- 
bers have  been  aggrieved  and  their  rights  in  some  instances  infringed 
upon  ;  and  the  Committee  recommend  that  the  surgeon  having  charge 
of  such  dispensary  give  strict  orders  to  his  subordinates  that  they  be 
more  careftil  in  the  infringement  of  the  rights  of  practitioners  or  in 
interference  with  patients  under  their  charge. 

Louis  Mackall,  Jr.,  M.D., 

President. 

Z.  T.  Sowers,  M.D., 

Secretary. 

A  very  animated  and  somewhat  angry  discussion  took  place 
upon  this  report,  in  which  Surgeon  Basil  Norris  took  an  active 
part,  and  came  so  near  convicting  himself  by  his  involuntary 
and  inadvertent  confessions  of  guilt  that  his  friends  congrat- 
ulated him  upon  his  narrow  escape  from  disgrace.  The  fail- 
ure of  the  Association  to  adopt  the  report  was  a  verdict  of 
commiseration  for  the  surgeon  in  charge  of  the  dispensary, 
who  had  either  committed  or  permitted,  perhaps  both,  the 
abuses  charged  and  proven  to  the  satisfaction  of  the  Standing 
Committee.  The  testimony  before  the  committee  established 
the  existence  of  the  abuses,  but  it  failed  to  connect  Surgeon 
Norris  with  them  in  such  manner  as  to  justify  his  indictment 
and  prosecution. 

It  was  not  believed  at  the  time  that  Surgeon-General  Barnes 
was  aware  of  the  commission  of  the  alleged  abuses,  but  it  is 
certain  that  they  ceased  immediately  after  this  investigation 


PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES.  31 3 

and  the  report  of  the  Committee,  and  whilst  I  have  no  author- 
ity for  tlie  statement,  I  have  always  since  felt  assured  that 
the  Surgeon- General  issued  such  verbal  admonitions  to  those 
in  charge  of  the  dispensary  that  restricted  its  benefactions  to 
those  entitled  under  the  law  and  regulations  to  its  privileges. 

With  the  termination  of  these  investigations  the  contro- 
versy remained  for  a  time  in  abeyance,  but  passion  and  bad 
blood  were  too  deep-seated  to  accept  the  results  as  a  finality. 
The  Standiug  Committee  had  prosecuted  the  investigation 
in  the  spirit  of  moderation  and  forbearance,  but  the  tide  of 
revenge  had  set  in  too  strongly  to  be  arrested  by  anything 
except  a  decided  reversal  of  popular  opinion. 

After  the  termination  of  the  Norris  imbroglio  I  retired 
from  the  Standing  Committee  because  of  the  expiration  of  my 
temporary  term  of  service  and  declination  of  a  re-election, 
and  Dr.  Lovejoy  retired  by  a  formal  and  voluntary  resig- 
nation. 

At  the  same  meeting  of  the  Association  at  M'hich  the  last 
report  of  the  Standing  Committee  was  submitted  Dr.  A.  Y. 
P.  Garnett  "  asked  the  privilege  of  making  certain  written 
remarks,  which  were  in  the  nature  of  a  personal  explanatiou, 
and  which  lie  desired  to  bring  to  the  attention  of  the  Associ- 
ation." The  request  was  granted,  and  Dr.  Garnett  proceeded 
with  his  remarks  until  called  to  order  because  he  named  cer- 
tain members,  and  then  positively  and  promptly  declined  to 
proceed  under  any  such  restraint.  He  had  been  assailed  by 
members  and  others  for  his  course  in  originating  and  prose- 
cuting the  investigations  of  the  complaints  set  forth  in  his 
resolution  (see  p.  304),  and  claimed  the  right  of  self-defence 
before  the  same  body  of  gentlemen  by  which  such  complaints 
must  be  finally  adjudicated.  Failing  in  this  effort  to  vindi- 
cate himself  from  the  aspersions  upon  his  private  and  profes- 
sional character,  he  printed  and  published  his  explanation  in 
pamphlet  form  under  the  title  of  An  Exposition  of  Facts,  and 
personally  distributed  copies,  as  was  his  right,  to  his  profes- 
sional and  lay  friends.     For  these  acts,  which  were  not  denied. 


314  PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES. 

Surgeon  J.  H.  Baxter  preferred  charges  agaiust  Dr.  Garnett 
for  violation  of  Article  VI.  of  the  Code  of  Ethics  of  the 
American  Medical  Association,  entitled  "  Of  differences  be- 
tween physicians;"  also  the  paragraph  in  the  Code  of  Ethics 
of  the  Medical  Association  of  the  District  of  Columbia.  The 
section  of  the  local  code  referred  to  is  as  follows  : 

■  The  diflferences  of  physicians,  when  they  end  in  apj^eals  to  the 
public  generally,  hurt  the  contending  parties ;  but,  what  is  of  more 
consequence,  they  discredit  the  profession  and  expose  the  faculty 
itself  to  contempt  and  ridicule.  Whenever  such  diiferences  occur  as 
may  affect  the  honor  and  dignity  of  the  profession,  and  cannot  imme- 
diately be  terminated,  or  do  not  come  under  the  character  of  viola- 
tions of  the  special  rules  of  the  Association  otherwise  provided  for, 
they  should  be  referred  to  the  arbitration  of  a  sufficient  number  of 
members  of  the  Association,  according  to  the  nature  of  the  dispute  ; 
but  neither  the  subject-matter  of  such  references,  nor  the  adjudica- 
tion should,  if  it  can  be  avoided,  be  communicated  to  the  public,  as 
they  may  be  personally  injurious  to  the  individuals  concerned,  and 
can  hardly  fail  to  hurt  the  general  credit  of  the  faculty. 

Article  VI.  of  the  Code  of  Ethics  of  the  American  Med- 
ical Association  reads  as  follows  : 

Section  1.  Diversity  of  opinion  and  opposition  of  interest  may,  in 
the  medical  as  in  other  professions,  sometimes  occasion  controversy 
and  even  contention.  Whenever  such  cases  unfortunately  occur,  and 
cannot  be  immediately,  terminated,  they  should  be  referred  to  the 
arbitration  of  a  sufficient  number  of  physicians  or  a  court-medical. 

And  in  the  second  section  of  the  same  article  the  same  gen- 
eral principle  in  regard  to  the  publication  of  such  diiferences 
is  set  forth  in  language  nearly  identical  with  that  of  the  con- 
cluding sentence  of  the  section  of  the  local  code  j)reviously 
quoted. 

The  Standing  Committee,  after  such  consideration  of  the 
charges  as  was  deemed  full  and  complete,  reported  its  finding 
to  the  Association — that  Dr.  A.  Y.  P.  Garnett  was  guilty  of 
the  violation  of  the  "  paragraph  of  tlie  Code  of  Ethics  of  the 
American  Medical  Association  in  relation  to  '  the  differences 


PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES.  315 

of  physiciaus/  and  thereby  of  the  Code  of  Ethics  of  the 
Medical  Association  of  the  District  of  Columbia." 

The  Association,  after  a  protracted  discussion  of  the  report, 
declared,  by  the  decisive  vote  of  forty-four  to  twenty-three, 
that  Dr.  Garuett  was  '^not  guilty  of  a  wilful  violation  of  the 
Code  of  Ethics  of  the  American  Medical  Association,"  aud 
thus  ended  one  of  the  most  angry  and  hotly  contested  contro- 
versies that  ever  disturbed  the  harmony  of  the  profession  of 
this  District. 

I,  with  others,  contested  the  justice  of  the  finding  of  the 
Committee,  and,  as  were  many  others,  was  gratified  at  the 
triumphant  vindication  of  one  whom  we  believed  had  been 
unjustly  assailed  aud  accused.  I  regret  that  I  have  mislaid 
the  memoranda  of  my  argument  on  that  occasion.  I  believed 
then,  as  I  hold  now,  that  the  paragraphs  of  the  Code  of  Ethics 
under  which  the  charge  was  made  are  not  peual  enactments, 
subjecting  oifenders  to  arraignment,  trial,  and  disgrace,  but 
wise  and  discreet  statements  of  the  proprieties  of  professional 
conduct  in  such  cases,  aud  concluding  with  the  pertinent  sug- 
gestion that  a  certain  course  of  conduct  "  may  be  personally 
injurious  to  the  individuals  concerned,  and  can  hardly  fail  to 
bring  discredit  on  the  faculty."  The  American  Medical  Asso- 
ciation has  frequently  given  a  practical  interpretation  of  Arti- 
cle VI.  by  the  publication  iu  its  Transactions  of  the  "  subject- 
matter  of  such  differences,"  and  in  the  publication  of  the 
proceedings  and  findings  iu  regard  to  the  disturbances  of 
1869-72  in  this  city  it  did  publicly,  by  the  passage  of  a 
formal  resolution  attaching  the  "  stigma  of  dishonor  "  to  certain 
parties,  commit  even  a  greater  offence,  if  it  be  an  offence,  by 
the  publication  of  the  "adjudication  of  the  arbitrators."  The 
defence  was  not,  however,  based  exclusively  upou  the  inter- 
pretation of  these  paragraphs  of  the  local  and  general  Codes 
of  Ethics,  but  upon  other  grounds  equally  conclusive  of  the 
injustice  of  the  finding  of  the  Stauding  Committee.  It  is 
undoubtedly  true  that  there  were  words,  sentences,  and  para- 
graphs in  the  Exposition  of  Facts  that  "  stung  to  the  quick  " 


316  PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES. 

the  victims  of  its  author's  animadversion,  but  they  did  not 
"  come  under  the  character  of  violation  of  the  special  rules  of 
the  Association  otherwise  provided  for." 

If  the  suggestions  and  propositions  made  by  me  as  early  as 
May,  1874  (see  pp.  321-24),  had  been  adopted,  as  they  were  for 
the  most  part  in  the  revision  of  1878  (p.  326),  with  the  sub- 
sequent changes,  these  controversies  would  not  have  occurred, 
and  the  estrangements  which  followed  between  the  military 
medical  corps  and  the  local  profession  would  have  been 
avoided.  I  am  pleased  to  state  that  the  entente  cordiale  has 
been  completely  restored,  as  shown  by  the  admission  to  mem- 
bership by  invitation  during  the  year  1894  of  thirty-five 
surgeons  in  the  Government  medical  service,  and  their  active 
participation  in  the  scientific  deliberations  of  the  Medical 
Society  of  the  District  of  Columbia. 


CHAPTER   XVII. 

Kevision  of  the  Rules  and  Eegulations  and  Abrogation  of  the  Local  Code 
of  Ethics  of  the  Medical  Association  of  the  District  of  Columbia. 

The  Medical  Association  of  Washington  was  organized 
January  11, 1833,  by  the  adoption  of  "  a  system  of  ethics  and 
a  fee  bill,"  and  continued  to  be  known  by  that  name  until 
June  8, 1848,  when  it  was  changed  to  the  "  Medical  Associa- 
tion of  the  District  of  Columbia."  This  change  was  made 
necessary  because  of  the  application  for  admission  of  a  number 
of  physicians  residing  in  the  adjacent  city  of  Georgetown. 

In  1848  the  American  Medical  Association,  at  Philadelphia, 
adopted  a  Code  of  Ethics  and  made  its  acceptance  by  State 
and  local  medical  societies  a  prerequisite  to  representation  in 
that  body.  Consequently,  the  adoption  of  the  National  Code 
by  our  local  Association  supplied  it  with  two  codes,  which 
were  not  in  entire  accord  in  all  of  their  ethical  regulations  and 
provisions.  These  two  codes  continued  in  operation  until 
November,  1878,  but  their  diflPerences  and  contradictious  did 
not  seem  to  attract  any  special  attention  or  criticism,  except 
when  some  member  was  arraigned  for  violation  of  some  rule 
of  one  that  was  claimed  to  be  in  contravention  mth  some  pro- 
vision of  the  other.  In  addition  to  these  two  codes  the  Dis,- 
trict  of  Columbia  Association  had  in  force  a  series  of  rules 
and  regulations  which  were  intended  to  prescribe  and  define 
the  conduct  and  duties  of  its  members  in  matters  of  exclusive 
local  and  personal  concern.  Some  minor  alterations  and 
amendments  were,  from  time  to  time,  made  in  these  rules, 
sometimes  to  modify,  and  at  others  to  make  more  stringent 
the  rigor  of  discipline,  but  usually  to  eliminate  differences  of 
interpretation.  The  fee  bill  has,  at  different  times,  occasioned 
considerable  agitation,  not  so  much  in  regard  to  the  amount 


318  PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES. 

of  the  prescribed  charges  as  to  the  neglect  or  refusal  of  mem- 
bers to  present  and  collect  their  bills  for  professional  services. 
The  settlement  in  this  District  of  colored  and  women  phy- 
sicians and  the  disturbances  of  1869-72  convinced  a  number 
of  the  members  of  the  Association  of  the  propriety  and 
wisdom  of  such  modifications  of  the  rules  and  regulations  as 
would  extend  the  privileges  of  consultation  to  these  two 
classes  of  medical  practitioners,  and  recognize  them  as  legally 
and  ethically  qualified  members  of  the  profession.  There  was 
no  jDower  either  in  argument  or  legislation  by  which  men  could 
be  persuaded  or  made  to  vote  for  their  admission  to  full  mem- 
bership. The  ballot  secures  to  each  member  absolute  inde- 
pendence, and  protects  him  in  the  right  of  private  judgment. 
No  one  of  either  of  the  two  classes  of  physicians  could  get 
votes  enough  to  elect  him  or  her  to  full  membership.  It 
became  necessary,  therefore,  to  etfect  the  purposes  in  view  in 
some  indirect  way,  and  to  that  -end  the  Standing  Committee, 
upon  my  motion,  in  July,  1871,  adopted  the  following  pre- 
amble and  resolution  to  be  submitted  to  the  Association  at  a 
special  meeting  called  for  July  8,  1871 : 

Whereas,  It  is  believed  that  the  Medical  Association  of  the  District 
of  Columbia  will  at  the  proper  time,  and  in  accordance  with  Eegula- 
tion  Nineteen  (19),  so  alter  or  amend  Regulation  Sixteen  (16)  that 
any  member  may  consult  with  any  regular  physician  of  African 
descent  resident  in  this  District  of  Columbia ;  and 

^Vllereas,  Such  amendment  can  only  be  proposed  at  a  stated  meet- 
ing, and  cannot  be  acted  upon  until  one  month  subsequent  thereto, 
therefore  this  committee  recommends  the  adoption  of  the  following 
resolution : 

Resolved,  That  the  Association  will  not  hold  the  Standing  Com- 
mittee responsible  should  it  fail  to  investigate  charges  which  may  be 
made  against  any  member  of  this  Association  for  meeting  in  consulta- 
tion any  resident,  licensed,  regular  practitioner  of  medicine  of  AMcan 
descent  until  thirty  (30)  days  subsequent  to  the  final  action  of  the 
Association  upon  any  such  amendment  to  Regulation  Sixteen  (16) 
as  may  be  proposed  at  the  next  stated  meeting  in  October. 

After  an  animated  and  protracted  discussion  the  preamble 
and  resolution  were  adopted  by  the  Association  by  a  vote  of 


PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES.  319 

33  in  the  affirmative  to  17  in  the  negative.  Strange  as  it  may 
seem,  it  is,  nevertheless,  a  fact  that  many  of  tiiose  who  have 
been  classed  as  the  "  hostile  faction  "  united  in  a  determined 
opposition  to  the  passage  of  this  resolution,  thus  illustrating 
the  story  of  the  "  dog  in  the  manger  ; "  because  they  could  not 
get  all  they  wanted  would  not  take  any  part  thereof.  But 
even  more  strange  is  the  fact  that  some  of  those  who  were 
unwilling  to  make  any  concessions  to  the  colored  physicians 
recorded  their  votes  in  the  minority  with  the  "  hostile  faction," 
thus  exemplifying  another  frequent  occurrence  of  two  extremes 
meeting  on  the  common  ground  of  opposition  to  some  moderate 
and  judicious  measure  of  policy. 

At  the  semi-annual  meeting  held  October  3,  1871,  Dr. 
J.  M.  Toner  moved  to  amend  Regulation  16  by  adding  the 
following  clause : 

Medical  practitioners  of  African  descent  who  have  received  a 
license  from  the  Board  of  Examiners  of  the  Medical  Society  of  the 
District  of  Columbia  may  be  exempted  from  the  action  of  this  regu- 
lation, and  those  members  desiring  to  do  so,  may  consult  with  them 
as  long  as  such  practitioners  continue  to  practice  according  to  the 
received  tenets  and  ethics  of  regular  medical  practice  as  recognized 
by  the  Association. 

Dr.  Toner  also  offered  as  an  amendment  to  Regulation 
Twenty  (20)  to  strike  out  the  words  "  a  majority  "  and  insert 
the  words  "  two-thirds." 

Dr.  Reyburn  moved  to  amend  Regulation  Twenty  (20)  by 
striking  out,  in  the  second  section,  all  that  part  following  the 
word  Association,  and  insert,  "And  all  graduates  of  regular 
medical  colleges  who  are  licentiates  of  the  Medical  Society  of 
the  District  of  Columbia  and  in  good  standing  in  the  profes- 
sion shall  be  entitled  to  membership  in  this  Association  on 
signing  the  Regulations  and  Code  of  Ethics." 

These  amendments  were  ordered  to  lie  over  for  one  month, 
and  on  motion  of  Dr.  Thomas  Miller  the  President  and  Sec- 
retary were  authorized  to  furnish  "  the  press  such  an  abstract 


320  PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES. 

of  the  proceedings  of  the  meeting  as  they  may  judge  proper 
for  publication." 

At  the  adjourned  meeting  held  November  14, 1871,  to  con- 
sider the  proposed  amendments,  the  amendment  offered  by 
Dr.  Toner  to  extend  the  privileges  of  consultation  to  'the 
physicians  of  African  descent  was  on  motion  laid  on  the  table 
by  a  vote  of  18  yeas  to  15  nays ;  but  Dr.  A.  W.  Miller,  who 
voted  in  the  affirmative,  moved  a  reconsideration,  pending 
which  the  Association  adjourned  to  November  28th.  At  the 
latter  meeting  the  motion  to  reconsider  was  carried  by  a  vote 
of  28  yeas  to  8  nays,  and  the  amendment  was  adopted  by  a 
vote  of  33  in  the  affirmative  to  9  in  the  negative.  The  other 
amendments  offered  at  the  semi-annual  meeting  were  lost. 
The  amendment  requiring  two-tliirds  to  elect  was,  however, 
renewed  at  a  subsequent  meeting  and  adopted  October  1, 1872. 

No  further  definite  effort  at  revision  was  made  until  May, 
1874,  when  Dr.  J.  W.  H.  Lovejoy  offered  the  following  amend- 
ment, which  was  the  first  attempt  to  define  and  segregate  the 
class  of  physicians  who  were  then,  as  now,  known,  in  common 
parlance,  as  "  sundown  doctors  " — that  is,  medical  graduates 
who  practice  medicine  before  9  a.m.  and  after  4  p.m.  : 

Addition  to  Article  XX.  of  the  regulations  : 

Medical  i^ractitioners  holding  clerkships  in  the  Government  offices, 
or  engaged  iu  any  business  unconnected  with  the  regular  practice  of 
medicine,  shall  not  be  eligible  to  membership  in  this  Association,  but 
may  be  elected  associate  members. 

The  associate  members  shall  be  entitled  to  the  benefits  of  consulta- 
tions, but  to  no  other  privilege  in  the  Association. 

Candidates  for  associate  membership  must  be  licentiates  of  the 
Medical  Society  of  the  District  of  Columbia  ;  shall  make  application 
and  be  recommended  and  elected  in  the  same  manner  as  the  mem- 
bers, and  shall  sign  within  one  month  the  approval  and  pledge  con- 
tained in  the  twenty-second  article  of  the  regulations,  of  which  the 
Secretary  shall  keep  a  copy  for  their  signatures  separate  from  that  for 
the  members  ;  and  they  shall  be  subject  to  the  same  assessments  and 
liabilities  as  the  members. 

In  support  of  this  amendment  Dr.  Lovejoy  said : 


PERSONAL  BEMTNISCENCES.  321 

I  have  but  little  to  say  in  advocacy  of  the  amendment  I  have  offered. 
I  am  aware  that  the  subject  in  all  its  aspects  is  as  familiar  to  every 
member  of  the  Association  as  it  is  to  me,  and  I  have  no  doubt  that 
every  one  has  ab-eady  made  up  his  mind  as  to  the  vote  he  intends  to 
cast.  I  have  observed  that  the  opposition  to  the  admission  of  such 
physicians  as  are  referred  to  has  been  increasing  every  year  until,  from 
one  or  two  votes,  three  or  four  years  ago,  it  has  grown  at  least  suffi- 
ciently powerful  to  reject  such  candidates.  I  do  not  think  that  these 
gentlemen  have  the  right  to  demand  full  membership  in  the  Associa- 
tion, with  the  right  to  vote  and  assist  in  its  government ;  but  I  am 
not  so  sure  of  our  right  to  deny  them  the  privilege  of  consultation, 
or  of  "  the  liberality  of  exercising  it  if  we  had." 

I  am,  however,  satisfied  that  unless  some  such  arrangement  is  made 
as  that  which  is  proposed  by  the  amendment,  these  gentlemen  will 
be  hereafter  denied  admission,  and,  consequently,  debarred  from  the 
privilege  of  consultation.  I  have,  therefore,  offered  the  amendment 
in  their  interest,  and  I  am  sure  it  is  all  they  have  the  right  to  ask. 

Dr.  Busey  moved  "  that  the  pending  amendment  be  referred  to  a 
committee  of  five,  which  committee  shall  consider  the  expediency  of 
a  revision  of  the  regulations  of  the  Association,  and  report  in  writ- 
ing." 

In  support  of  his  motion  Dr.  Busey  said  "  he  had  offered  the  reso- 
lution believing  the  time  had  come  when  the  Association  should  be 
reorganized.  Its  Code  of  Ethics  and  regulations  should  be  revised 
and  made  to  conform  with  the  Code  of  Ethics  of  the  American  Med- 
ical Association.  As  this  body,  to  qualify  its  delegates  to  the  national 
organization,  was  compelled  to  adopt  the  Code  of  Ethics  of  that  body, 
and  every  delegate  presenting  his  credentials  was  required  to  sign  it, 
it  was  manifest  that  no  local  provision  or  regulation  antagonistic  to 
the  general  code  could  be  binding. 

The  code  of  the  American  Medical  Association  was  liberal,  and 
surely  sufficient  to  guide  and  control  the  intercourse  between  medical 
gentlemen  and  between  physician  and  patient.  All  provisions  and 
regulations  of  our  local  code  inconsistent  with  and  antagonistic  to  it 
should  be  stricken  from  it.  He  pointed  out  several  of  these  contra- 
dictions. He  maintained,  fiirther,  that  stringent  and  penal  regula- 
tions accomplished  no  good.  Honorable  gentlemen  did  not  need 
them,  and  dishonorable  men  did  not  obey  them.  Unless  penal  laws 
were  rigorously  and  imjjartially  enforced  the  innocent  suffered,  and 
experience  had  clearly  shown  that  this  body  would  not  sustain  the 
Standing  Committee  in  its  efforts  to  maintain  the  authority  of  its  own 
enactments.     Hence  he  desired  the  good  to  be  as  free  as  the  bad. 

He  insisted  that  the  Association  should  disconnect  itself  from  the 

21 


322  PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES. 

Medical  Society  of  the  District  of  Columbia,  and  not  require  a  license 
from  tliat  organization  as  an  essential  qualification  of  membership. 

He  claimed  that  female  physicians  should  be  allowed  consultations. 
While  he  was  not  the  advocate  either  of  mixed  medical  schools  or  of 
female  doctors,  and  thought  that  medicine  was  not  the  calling  of 
women,  still  he  was  not  forgetflil  of  the  fact  that  in  times  past  women 
had  risen  to  distinction  in  the  profession,  and  believed  there  was 
more  than  one  now  living  destined  to  become  eminent. 

If  it  was  an  evil,  it  was  such  an  evil  that  neither  this  organization 
nor  the  entire  medical  profession  of  the  country  could  abate,  and 
hence  it  was  the  part  of  wisdom,  justice,  and  humanity  to  strike  from 
our  regulations  all  provisions  prohibiting  the  members  from  consult- 
ing with  female  doctors. 

This  Association  purported  to  be  a  voluntary  organization,  but  its 
arbitrary  and  illiberal  regulations  made  membership  compulsory, 
because  it  denied  to  regularly  educated  physicians  rights  and  privi- 
leges which  by  right  belonged  to  them  as  physicians,  and  required 
such  to  seek  admission  to  secure  to  themselves  such  rights.  He  main- 
tained that  consultations  were  for  the  benefit  of  and  belonged  to  the 
patients,  and  that  no  local  society  had  a  right  to  restrict  consultations 
to  its  own  membership.  The  regulation  of  the  American  Medical 
Association  governing  consultations  was  wise  and  humane,  and  noth- 
ing more  was  necessary.  By  denying  consultations  to  those  not  mem- 
bers and  to  females  we  punish  the  sick,  denied  to  them  the  medical 
advice  they  desire,  controlled  members  who  wished  to  maintain  the 
integrity  of  the  Association,  and  by  failing  to  punish  those  who  vio- 
lated its  regulations,  permitted  those  of  questionable  honor  to  seek 
and  solicit  the  patronage  of  the  non-members  to  the  injury  of  many 
members. 

He  was  opposed  to  the  restriction  placed  upon  professional  inter- 
course with  Army  and  Navy  surgeons  stationed  in  this  city  and 
faithftilly  discharging  the  duties  imposed  upon  them  by  law.  He 
maintained  that  it  was  a  gross  injustice  to  ourselves  to  require  them 
to  become  members  of  this  organization  to  obtain  consultations  with 
the  civil  faculty,  and  derogatory  to  their  dignity.  As  the  regulations 
now  stood  they  were  required  to  obtain  a  license  from  the  Medical 
Society  of  the  District  of  Columbia,  and  then,  with  that  as  their 
essential  credential,  to  apply  for  admission  here,  or  those  whom  they 
might  be  called  upon  to  attend  among  the  Army  and  Navy  families 
stationed  or  residing  in  this  city  could  not  obtain  the  professional 
advice  of  a  practitioner  in  civil  life  in  consultation  with  such  surgeon 
— a  monstrous  injustice  to  ourselves. 

He  was  opposed  to  the  admission  of  medical  men  employed  as  clerks 


PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES.  323 

in  the  departments,  not  l)ecause  they  were  necessarily  incompetent,  as 
had  been  asserted,  but  because  from  the  nature  of  their  employment 
they  could  not  be  thoroughly  identified  with  the  profession.  He  was 
willing  to  concede  to  them  every  right  necessary  to  qualify  them  to 
pursue  their  profession  during  their  leisure  hours,  but  he  was  unwill- 
ing to  clothe  them  with  authority  to  regulate  the  pi-actice  of  medicine 
in  this  District — to  enact  penal  regulations,  to  limit  and  prescribe  the 
duties  of  men  whose  entire  lives,  time,  and  abilities  were  exclusively 
devoted  to  the  practice  of  medicine.  He  would,  therefore,  so  revise 
the  regulations  as  to  do  away  with  the  requirements  of  membership 
to  secure  privileges  which  ought  not  to  be  denied.  Membership 
should  be  voluntary.  It  was  compulsory  as  long  as  it  was  necessary 
to  secure  rights. 

The  Association  had  but  two  purposes — to  maintain  a  code  of  ethics 
and  to  establish  a  schedule  of  fees — and  owes  its  existence  to  the  fact 
that  the  charter  of  the  Medical  Society  of  the  District  of  Columbia 
prohibited  that  organization  from  doing  either.  It  is  a  clear  and  pal- 
pable evasion  of  the  intent  and  purposes  of  that  law,  and  had  always 
appeared  to  him  to  have  been  formed  by  men  who  at  that  time  (1833) 
had  all  the  practice,  and  were  determined  to  retain  it  whilst  they 
lived.  He  did  not  believe  that  any  young  man,  however  pure  and 
honorable  he  might  be,  could  stand  squarely  up  to  the  letter  and 
spirit  of  the  regulations  and  ever  have  a  profitable  business  among 
the  resident  population. 

He  was  willing  to  concede  the  probable  advantage  of  some  few 
general  regulations  governing  fees — perhaps  a  minimum  limit— but 
he  was  opposed  to  the  details  of  a  schedule.  The  physician  and 
patron  should  determine  the  compensation  by  the  character,  impor- 
tance, amount,  and  appreciation  of  the  services  rendered.  If  the 
man  of  twenty  years'  experience,  or  the  specialist  who  has  devoted 
his  time  and  talent  to  the  study  of  a  particular  class  of  disease,  are 
worth  no  more  than  the  graduate  fresh  from  college,  then  experience, 
study,  and  observation  go  for  nothing.  The  exactions  of  a  fee  bill 
are  unjust  to  a  man  of  experience  and  to  the  beginner.  In  the  former 
case  too  much  labor  is  imposed  to  realize  a  competent  support.  He 
is  overtasked  with  work,  and  his  remuneration  is  in  proportion  to  the 
amount  of  work  without  proper  appreciation  of  the  merit  and  quality 
of  the  work.  The  beginner  is  required  to  estimate  his  services  at  the 
same  value  as  the  skilled  and  experienced  phj'sician,  and  hence  he  is 
brought  in  direct  competition  with  him  on  a  basis  of  compensation. 
Surely  it  must  be  manifest  that  upon  such  a  basis  the  skilled  will  reap 
the  rewards,  while  the  unskilled  will  stand  idly  by. 


324  PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES. 

He.  finally,  expressed  his  conviction  that  penal  codes  failed  either 
to  maintain  or  to  elevate  the  dignity  and  purity  of  the  personnel  of 
the  profession.  That  if  we  wished  to  raise  the  standing  of  the  pro- 
fession it  must  be  by  individual  emulation  in  professional  qualifica- 
tion, in  dignity,  and  in  honorable  and  manly  bearing.  He  should 
widen  the  contrast  between  merit  and  incompetency,  between  honor 
and  dishonor,  between  the  man  of  unflinching  integrity  and  the  man 
who  by  manoeuvres,  cunning,  and  unworthy  artifice  sought  to  subsi- 
dize the  confidence  and  respect  of  a  community.  He  would  hold  the 
membership  as  something  distinctive — a  line  of  separation  between 
the  worthy  and  unworthy.  While  membership  was  necessary  to 
secure  the  privileges  and  rights  which  properly  and  legally  be- 
longed to  every  regular  practitioner  of  medicine,  whether  worthy  or 
unworthy,  the  implied  obligation  rested  upon  us  to  admit  every  appli- 
cant, however  low  in  morality  or  deficient  in  qualifications.  Let  the 
applicant  come  voluntarily,  seeking  a  badge  of  honor  and  distinction, 
and  not  be  driven  to  us  by  our  arbitrary  regulations. 

The  motion  was  adopted  by  division,  yeas  33,  nays  11, 
and  the  President,  Dr.  Flodoardo  Howard,  appointed  the 
committee  of  five,  but  Dr.  Busey  "  said  he  would  not  act, 
because  he  could  not  serve  on  the  committee  as  organized. 
He  did  not  desire  to  give  reasons,  but  he  might  have  been 
willing  to  allow  his  name  to  remain  if  other  appointments 
had  been  made." 

I  believed  at  the  time  that  the  President  had  organized  the 
committee  with  a  majority  of  members  who  had  openly  opposed 
the  propositions  I  had  distinctly  made,  and  which  the  Asso- 
ciation had  approved  by  the  decisive  vote  of  three  to  one. 
My  declination  to  serve  on  the  committee  may  have  been 
indiscreet,  but  its  report  made  at  the  semi-annual  meeting, 
October  6,  1874,  established  the  fact  of  its  opposition  to  the 
measures  of  reform  which  I  and  others  had  advocated.  Its 
recommendation  mainly  referred  to  the  business  aspects  of  the 
Association,  some  of  which  were  valuable,  but  it  ignored 
Lovejoy's  proposed  amendment  to  classify  the  "  sundown " 
doctors  and  mine  to  rescind  the  local  Code  of  Ethics,  and  re- 
fused to  modify  the  regulations  limiting  consultations  to 
members  and  excluding  women  from  the  privileges  of  con- 
sultation, and  Surgeons  of  the  Army  and  ]^avy  also  unless 


PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES.  325 

they  became  members  of  the  Association.  Several  of  the 
amendments  proposed  by  the  committee  relating  to  the  mode 
and  manner  of  conducting  business,  fees,  and  the  reciprocal 
duties  of  an  attending  and  consulting  physician  were  adopted, 
but  most  of  its  ])roposed  amendments  were  rejected  by  large 
majorities.  The  Association "  did,  however,  adopt  several 
measures  of  reform.  Lovejoy's  amendment  to  classify  "sun- 
down "  doctors  was,  after  a  protracted  struggle,  adopted  by  a 
decisive  vote ;  and  the  amendment  of  Dr.  D.  R.  Hagner  that 
"the  privilege  of  consultation  may  be  extended  to  Medical 
Officers  of  the  Army  and  Navy  without  their  having  become 
members  "  was  also  adopted,  but  unwisely  with  the  amend- 
ment offered  by  Dr.  Ashford,  "  provided  such  officers  do  not 
engage  in  general  practice  among  civilians."  There  were  also 
some  alterations  made  in  several  paragraphs  of  the  local  Code 
of  Ethics  that  modified  some  of  its  inconsistencies  and  objec- 
tional  provisions.  The  revision  was  in  the  main  in  the 
direction  of  reform,  but  was  incomplete  and  unsatisfactory. 

The  two  following  amendments,  the  first  offered  by  myself 
and  the  second  by  Dr.  Reyburn,  were  rejected  by  large  ma- 
jorities : 

No  practitioner  who  has  a  license  to  practice  ffom  some  medical 
board  of  known  and  acknowledged  respectability,  recognized  by  the 
American  Medical  Association,  and  who  is  in  good  moral  and  pro- 
fessional standing,  should  be  excluded  from  such  fellowship  or  be 
refused  admission  to  a  consultation,  when  it  is  requested  by  the 
patient,  so  long  as  such  practitioner  continues  to  jsractice  according 
to  the  received  tenets  -and  ethics  of  regular  medical  practice  as  recog- 
nized by  this  Association,  and  all  regulations  or  parts  of  regulations 
inconsistent  with  this  be  and  the  same  are  hereby  repealed. 

Female  medical  practitioners  who  comply  with  the  rules  and  regu- 
lations governing  the  regular  practice  of  medicine  in  the  Disti'ict  of 
Columbia  should  not  be  debarred  from  the  privilege  of  consiiltation 
on  account  of  their  sex. 

The  amendment  to  modify  the  limitations  of  consultations, 
offered  by  myself,  is  identical  in  import  and  nearly  so  in  lan- 
guage with  Section  1,  Article  IV.  of  the  Code  of  Ethics  of 
the  American  Medical  Association  defining  "  the  duties  of 


326  PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES. 

physicians  in  regard  to  consultations,"  which  was  then  as  now 
in  force,  and  is  paramount  and  supreme  to  any  regulation  in 
contravention  which  the  Medical  Association  of  the  District 
of  Columbia  could  adopt.  Notwithstanding,  the  District 
Association  did  then,  by  a  very  decisive  majority,  and  has 
continued  to  adhere  to  the  limitation  of  consultation  to  mem- 
bership, with  the  notable  exceptions  as  previously  stated  at 
page  319.  This  is  another  illustration  of  those  strange  lapses 
into  which  bodies  of  men  occasionally  fall  and  persistently 
prescribe  a  rule  of  conduct  for  their  government  in  direct 
contravention  of  their  own  edict  and  of  the  supreme  law 
under  which  they  derive  their  legal  standing  a-nd  authority. 
It  is  only  by  virtue  of  the  adoption  of  the  Code  of  Ethics  of 
the  American  Medical  Association  that  the  Medical  Associa- 
ciation  of  the  District  of  Columbia  can  exist  as  an  ethical 
organization  with  any  standing  in  the  profession  of  the 
country. 

The  issue  of  revision  remained  in  abeyance  until  April, 
1878,  when,  upon  my  motion,  the  "rules  and  regulations  of 
the  Association  were  referred  to  a  Committee  of  Five,  ap- 
pointed by  the  Chair,  for  revision  and  amendment,"  to  report 
in  writing  at  the  semi-annual  meeting  in  October  following,  at 
which  meeting  t*lie  committee  submitted  its  report,  as  follows  : 

To  the  Medical  Association  of  the  District  of  Columbia  : 

In  pursuance  of  the  resolution,  hereto  annexed,  passed  by  the  Asso- 
ciation at  the  annual  meeting  in  April,  1878,  and  communicated  to  the 
committee  by  the  letter  of  the  Secretary  of  April  13th,  your  committee 
beg  leave  to  report  the  accompanying  revision  of  the  rules  and  regu- 
lations. Many  of  the  proposed  amendments  consist  in  re-arrangement 
of  existing  provisions,  without  material  alteration  of  language ;  some 
omissions  have  been  suggested,  and  several  new  sections  have  been 
added.  The  committee  unanimously  recommend  the  acceptance  and 
adoption  of  this  revision,  to  take  effect  on  and  after  the  next  annual 

meeting. 

Samuel  C.  Busey,  M.D. 

Louis  Mackall,  M.D. 

J.  W.  H.  LovEJOY,  M.D. 

Thomas  Antisell,  M.D. 

J.  M.  Toner,  M.D. 


PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES.  327 

This  report,  with  a  few  verbal  alterations  in  some  of  the 
proposed  amendments,  was  adopted  with  great  unanimity. 
It  eliminated  many  of  the  objectionable  provisions,  admitted 
women  doctors  to  the  privileges  of  consultation ;  defined  more 
definitely  the  duties  of  the  Standing  Committee  and  method 
of  procedure  in  investigation  and  prosecution ;  made  two- 
thirds  vote  of  the  committee  necessary  to  a  verdict  of  guilt, 
and  two-thirds  vote  of  the  Association  necessary  to  determine 
the  nature  of  the  punishment,  and  abolished  the  local  Code 
of  Ethics. 

The  revision  of  1878  has  been  from  time  to  time  amended 
in  some  of  its  most  important  details.  Six  mouths'  probation 
has  been  prescribed  for  applicants  for  membership,  by  deferring 
the  election  to  the  stated  meeting  succeeding  the  one  at  which 
the  application  may  be  made ;  the  proviso  denying  consulta- 
tion without  membership  to  Army  and  Navy  Surgeons  "who 
might  engage  in  general  practice  among  civilians "  has  been 
repealed ;  the  class  of  associate  members,  otherwise  knows  an 
"  sundown  doctors,"  has  been  abolished,  but  those  previously 
elected  to  that  class  retain  the  privileges  of  consultation,  and 
all  full  members  who  "  may  accept  a  clerkship  or  engage  in 
any  business  not  connected  with  the  regular  practice  of  med- 
icine" forfeit  their  membership  ;  and  the  following  regulation 
defining  "  sick-leave  certificate  "  has  been  added  : 

In  certificates  on  account  of  illness  given  to  employes  in  the  public 
offices,  or  others,  respecting  absence  from  official  duties,  the  disease 
shall  not  be  specified,  neither  shall  the  name  or  nature  of  the  disease 
be  divulged  by  any  written  description  or  statement  of  its  symptoms 
given  to  the  patient  himself,  nor  by  any  specification  of  the  disorder, 
nor  by  any  disclosure  which  may  be  construed  into  an  evasion  of  the 
meaning  of  this  regulation. 

The  provision  extending  consultation  to  women  physicians 
has  in  some  measure  become  inoperative,  because  of  the  ad- 
mission of  that  class  to  full  membership. 

The  exclusion  of  "sundown  doctors"  from  associate  mem- 
bership became  an  imperative  necessity,  because  of  the  numer- 


328  PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES. 

ous  instances  of  incompetency  and  resulting  disaster  to 
patients  because  of  the  neglect  incident  to  their  business  or 
clerical  duties  during  the  hours  when  competent  medical 
service  was  most  needed.  To  that  class  must  be  attributed 
the  recent  introduction  (October,  1894)  and  dissemination  of 
smallpox  in  this  city,  growing  out  of  failure  to  diagnosticate 
the  first  case  by  a  "  sundown  doctor  "  in  attendance,  and  the 
return  of  the  death  certificate  of  "  confluent  varicella." 

In  this  connection  I  reproduce  the  following  order  in  rela- 
tion to  the  "  sundown  "  doctors  employed  in  the  Bureau  of 
Pensions : 

Department  op  the  Intep.ior,  Bureau  op  Pf.nsions, 
Warhington,  D.  C,  December  29,  1894. 

'  Order  No.  281. 

If  any  clerk  or  employe  of  the  Pension  Bureau  shall  hereafter 
attend  patients  as  a  physician  or  medical  adviser,  it  will  be  regarded 
as  sufficient  ground  for  recommending  that  his  fiirther  services  in  this 
Bureau  be  dispensed  with. 

The  danger  of  bringing  contagious  diseases  to  the  other  clerks 
and  employes  of  the  Bureau  and  of  allowing  such  diseases  to  spread 
in  the  community  is  obvious,  and  has  been  manifested  in  recent  cases. 

Moreover,  a  calling  which  is  likely  to  require  clerks  and  em- 
ployes to  be  up  at  night,  and  to  demand  their  prompt  attention  at  all 
times,  is  inconsistent  with  the  proper  discharge  of  their  duties  in  this 

Bureau. 

(Signed)  William  Lochren, 

Commissioner. 

The  "  sick-leave  certificate "  issue  was  for  a  period  of 
years  a  perplexing  problem,  because  of  the  persistent  demand 
of  Cabinet  officers  and  heads  of  bureaus  that  such  certificates 
should  set  forth  disclosures  which  medical  men  could  not 
commit  to  writing,  or  else  punish  the  patient  with  loss  of  pay 
during  the  period  of  illness.  The  adoption  of  the  regulation 
before  cited  seems  to  have  settled  the  question  by  uniting 
the  profession  in  common  obedience  to  a  rule  inviolable  with- 
out punishment. 

Tiie  adoption  of  the  sick-leave  regulation  and  the  forfeiture 
of  the  membership  of  those  who  might,  in  whole  or  in  part, 


PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES.  329 

abandon  the  practice  of  medicine  by  engaging  in  business  in- 
compatible with  the  proper  discharge  of  the  duties  of  a  prac- 
titioner of  medicine  exhibit  tlie  liighest  standard  of  courage 
and  determination  to  purge  the  profession  of  recusant  mem- 
bership. 

The  foregoing  synopsis  of  the  history  of  revision  sets  forth 
the  slow  but  progressive  efforts  of  reform  which  have  accom- 
plished much  good.  Many  objectionable  provisions  have  been 
eliminated,  many  others  have  been  so  modified  and  altered  as 
to  remove  objectionable  and  illiberal  restrictions,  and  others 
have  been  so  clearly  defined  that  differences  of  interpretation 
are  much  less  frequent.  There  remain,  however,  some  regu- 
lations which  fall  short  of  the  more  advanced  conception  of 
medical  ethics.  These,  at  least  some  of  them,  are,  perhaps, 
justifiable,  in  view  of  the  peculiar  environments  of  the  pro- 
fession in  the  District  of  Columbia.  The  absence  of  a  medical 
practice  law  makes  it  necessary  to  retain  the  limitation  of 
consultation  to  membership  and  to  those,  not  members,  to 
whom  it  has  been  legally  extended  by  definite  designation. 
The  District  of  Columbia  is  now  the  common  rendezvous  ot 
the  impostors  and  charlatans  driven  from  the  States  by  the 
enactment  of  medical  practice  laws,  and  some  sharp  and  inci- 
sive mark  of  distinction  between  such  refugees  both  of  the 
itinerant  and  permanent  class,  has  become  of  imperative 
necessity,  as  well  for  the  protection  of  the  community  as  for 
the  maintenance  of  the  honor  and  dignity  of  a  scientific  pro- 
fession. The  retention  of  a  fee  bill  schedule,  with  its  minimum 
and  maximum  charges*  for  every  distinct  and  definite  profes- 
sional service,  partakes  too  much  of  the  ill-advised  rules  of 
trades  unions,  which  demand  the  same  wages  for  the  incom- 
petent as  for  the  skilled  artisan ;  offers  protection  to  the 
ignorant,  in  that  it  holds  his  services  equal  in  value  to  those 
of  the  learned  and  skilled,  and  invites  a  class  of  unfit  men  to 
sneak  into  a  benevolent  and  scientific  profession  who  could 
not  earn  a  decent  livelihood  as  ordinary  mechanics.  The 
regulations  in  regard  to  fees  and  consultations,  as  did  the 


330  PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES. 

organization  of  the  Medical  Society  in  1819,  and  Medical 
Association  in  1838,  grew  out  of  the  necessity  of  protection 
from  the  wrongs,  injuries,  and  disreputable  practices  of  the 
horde  of  irresponsible  and  ignorant  charlatans  that  infested 
and  desecrated  the  infant  city;  and,  it  is  probable,  they  will 
be  continued  in  operation  as  long  as  such  protection  and  dis- 
tinction are  made  obligatory  by  the  failure  of  Congress  to  enact 
a  suitable  medical  practice  law. 

I  have  diifered  with  the  majority  of  my  colleagues  in 
regard  to  the  wisdom  of  such  arbitrary  regulations,  and  on 
several  occasions  in  times  past  have  emphasized  my  dissent 
without  success,  but  have,  finally,  acquiesced  in  the  will  of 
the  majority. 


CHAPTER  XVIII. 

Medicine  in  the  District  of  Columbia  during  the  period  from  1848-95. 

I  HAVE  in  several  of  the  preceding  chapters  referred  to 
special  conditions  relating  to  the  practice  of  medicine  in  this 
District  during  the  decade  1848-58,  and  to  men  and  families 
occupying  conspicuous  positions  in  the  community,  especially 
to  many  medical  men  who  acquired  distinction  and  success 
in  the  profession.  It  would  seem,  therefore,  reasonable  and 
proper  that  this  volume  of  reminiscent  history  should  be  con- 
cluded with  a  more  detailed  narrative  of  some  of  the  methods, 
procedures,  and  therapeutics  of  that  date,  that  my  readers  and 
young  contemporaries  may  trace  the  progress  in  scientific 
medicine  in  this  District  during  the  forty-seven  years  of  my 
professional  career. 

I  have  in  the  preceding  pages  named  men  whose  qualifica- 
tions were  up  to  the  highest  standard  of  attainment  during  the 
periods  of  their  active  professional  lives,  and  have  nothing  to 
add  that  will  detract  from  their  merit  and  skill ;  but  I  am 
now  dealing  with  medical  methods  and  therapeutics  along  the 
outlines  of  the  field  of  observation  and  compulsory  limitation 
of  therapeutic  resources  and  medicament^. 

The  pharmacy  of  therapeutics  has  so  changed  that  the  prac- 
titioner of  the  present  time  cannot  realize  the  disadvantages  of 
the  era  of  crude  preparations,  nauseous  compounds,  nasty 
decoctions,  bitter  powders,  and  unsavory  ptisans,  with  the 
addenda  of  acrid  taste,  sickening  odor,  and  stomachal  disgust, 
which  in  many  cases  made  the  treatment  less  endurable  than 
the  disease.  There  were  no  proprietary  preparations  to  solve 
the  problem  of  therapeusis ;  no  palatable  elixirs  to  tempt  the 
taste  of  the  drug-fiend  ;  no  sugar-coated  pills  to  conceal  the 
acrid  bitterness  of  drugs  in  common  use ;  no  capsules,  cachets, 


332  PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES. 

or  konseals  to  promise  easy  deglutition,  but  to  dissolve  as 
they  passed  the  isthmus  of  the  fauces  and  leave  sticking  fast 
their  sickening  flavor;  no  hypodermatic  tablets  to  save  the 
stomach  and  rectum  from  the  dosage  of  extemporaneous  mix- 
tures hurriedly  constituted  and  rudely  prepared ;  no  soft, 
elastic  catheters  or  rubber  syringes  with  adjustable  tubing 
and  attachments,  nor  atomizers  to  make  the  treatment  of 
anginose  and  laryngeal  affections  easy  and  flexible ;  only 
mops,  probangs,  caustic- holders,  and  gargles  with  which  to 
frighten  and  punish  refractory  children,  and  to  drive  timid 
adults  to  patent  medicine  cures  and  less  hurtful  domestic 
methods.  There  were  no  drummers  to  supply  gratuitously 
all-healing  balms  and  universal  panaceas  in  such  abundance 
as  to  make  people  believe  the  chief  object  of  life  was  to  take 
medicine  and  die  soon.  The  business  of  manufacturing  pills, 
tablets,  and  triturates  by  the  ton,  for  ready  use,  and  to  teach 
physicians  how  to  write  and  constitute  prescriptions,  with  the 
sly  suggestion,  when  ordering  such,  to  name  the  manufac- 
turer, thereby  setting  forth  the  mercenary  rather  than  the 
beneficent  purpose  of  the  vender,  are  the  products  of  a  recent 
and  progressive  civilization.  There  were  no  artificial  foods 
to  economize  the  waste  of  life  with  predigested  aliments,  so 
concentrated  and  with  such  a  succession  of  after-coming  super- 
excellent  benefits,  that  an  occasional  look  at  the  charmed 
preparation  will  sufiice  to  restore  health,  strength,  and  vigor 
to  the  most  attenuated  economy. 

There  was  no  fashion  in  sickness  or  drugs.  People  got 
sick  because  the  atmosphere  was  insalubrious,  the  weather 
was  too  cold,  or  too  warm,  or  inclement,  the  sun  was  obscured 
by  the  clouds,  or  the  blazing,  sunny  days  were  too  long  and 
nights  too  short,  or  the  food  was  badly  and  improperly  pre- 
pared. There  were  no  river  flats  to  fill  the  air  with  malarial 
emanations,  though  fever  and  ague  were  more  prevalent  then 
than  now ;  no  sewer  gas  to  conceal  the  numerous  domestic 
unsanitary  conditions  ;  no  Potomac  water  teeming  with  fecal 
bacteria   and    debris    from    its    enormous    area   of   polkited 


PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES.  333 

water-shed,  to  supply  drinking-water  and  supplant  the 
springs,  wells,  and  pumps  supplied  with  the  cooling  draught 
from  the  sepage  of  open  pasture  fields,  leaky  privies,  cess- 
pools, and  a  high  subsoil  water-level.  Funerals  were  ciieap, 
and  cemeteries  were  unpopular  and  filled  with  the  spirits  of 
dead  men. 

Washington  City  was,  however,  blessed  with  the  decennial 
meetings  of  the  Pharmacopoeial  Convention,  that  made  and 
provided  forms  and  methods  for  preparing  pills,  powders, 
tinctures,  salves,  plasters,  unguents,  infusions,  decoctions, 
syrups,  and  innumerable  other  compounds  with  abbreviated 
titles,  by  weight  and  measure  so  precisely  stated  that  the 
ordinary  drug-clerk,  who  learned  his  business  by  learning 
his  mistakes,  could,  with  crude  instruction,  fill  the  measure 
of  comparative  accuracy  after  several  years  of  impecunious 
service.  Washington  physicians  enjoyed  the  superior  ad- 
vantages over  those  of  other  cities  throughout  the  length  and 
breadth  of  the  land,  of  seeing  and  hearing  the  Convention 
resolve  to  do  and  not  to  do  what  others  could  ascertain  only 
by  reading  its  Transactions,  usually  published  about  the 
middle  of  the  succeeding  decade,  and  they  had  the  felicitous 
pleasure,  at  the  cost  of  ten  dollars  per  capita,  of  showing  the 
menu  of  the  National  Hotel  (1850)  at  a  banquet,  which  every- 
body, not  excepting  the  absentees,  enjoyed. 

Notwithstanding  such  advantages  and  environments,  the 
resources  of  therapeutical  applications  and  medicaments  in  the 
treatment  of  disease  were  very  limited,  but  the  popular  belief 
that  the  beneficial  effects  of  drugs  were  proportionate  to  the 
intensity  of  subjective  result  was  a  great  comfort  after  an 
over  or  indiscreet  dose  of  gamboge,  scammony,  or  the  more 
elegant  preparation  of  hiera  picra  Andromachi.  The  more 
drastic  the  cathartic  the  higher  the  confidence  in  its  utility. 
Hence  it  was  that  castor  oil  and  Epsom  salts  and  senna  and 
salts  were  so  universally  popular.  Pharmacy  and  chemistry 
had  not  then  taught  how  to  prepare  either  to  tempt  the  pai- 
ates  of  sick  children  and   recalcitrant  adults.     Coxe's  hive 


334  PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES. 

syrup  and  boneset  tea  were  equally  popular — the  first  to  cure 
croup  and  the  latter  to  sweat  out  "  colds  "  under  blankets  in 
an  overheated  room.  HHot  whiskey  punch  was  not  less  gen- 
eral in  use  than  now ;  in  fact,  whiskey  in  some  form  was  the 
most  popular  medicament  in  the  Pharmacopoeia  as  in  the 
saloon.  But  calomel  was  the  sheet-anchor  of  hope.  It  was 
the  initial  dose  to  disinfect  and  clean  out  the  alvine  tract, 
and  the  last  hope  in  obscure  and  dangerous  cases.  When  it 
failed  to  revive  the  harbinger  of  restored  health  or  fell  short 
of  ptyalism  the  giver  languished  in  despair  and  the  taker 
"  gave  up  the  ghost."  J  Dr.  B  .  .  .  s  was  not  the  only  phy- 
sician who  proclaimed  the  miraculous  powers  of  submurias. 
hydrarg.,  and  took  special  pleasure  in  forbidding  the  use  of 
cold  and  ice  water  and  exposure  to  fresh  air  until  the  alimen- 
tary tract  had  been  thoroughly  evacuated  by  an  after-dose  of 
castor  oil  and  Epsom  salts. 

In  no  department  of  medical  science  have  the  advances 
been  more  marked  and  important  than  in  the  management 
and  treatment  of  the  diseases  of  infancy  and  childhood.  It 
has  escaped  the  era  of  ignorance,  inhumanity,  superstition, 
and  legendary  aphorisms,  and  now  stands  upon  the  basis  of 
physiology,  pathology,  and  rational  therapeutics,  to  which  it 
has  attained  through  the  slow  but  continuous  progress  of 
study  and  research.  Pediatric  medicine  was  not  taught  as  a 
separate  branch  of  medicine  during~tHefirst  half  of  this  cen- 
tury in  this  country,  and  not  at  all,  except  as  an  appendage 
to  the  tail  end  of  the  chair  of  obstetrics  and  diseases  of  women 
and  children,  with  incidental  reference  to  ligation  of  the  cord, 
removal  of  the  vernix  caseosa,  and  first  dressing  of  the  newly- 
born.  The  minor  complaints  were  left  to  the  care  and  man- 
agement of  the  old  "  granny  nurses,"  who  handled  babies  as 
they  would  chunks  of  solid  flesh,  patted  them  backside  up 
across  their  jogging  laps  and  dosed  them,  as  in  their  wisdom 
seemed  most  appropriate,  with  the  nostrums  of  ancestral  re- 
nown. Catnip  tea,  with  its  bitter  and  pungent  taste,  but  not 
wholly  innocuous  properties,  was  the  universal  remedy  for 


PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES.  335 

"three"  and  "nine  weeks'"  colic.  Tooth  rashes,  stomach 
coughs,  and  milk  crust  were  relegated  to  the  vis  medicatrix 
naturce,  with  the  portentous  prediction  that  cure  would  afflict 
the  victim  with  some  grave  mental  disorder  or  produce  an 
acutely  fatal  disease.  Any  physician  who  had  the  temerity 
to  attempt  the  cure  of  crusta  lactea  would  invoke  the  anathemas 
of  a  neighborhood  of  ancient  mesdames  whose  wisdom  had 
been  quickened  by  numerous  births,  and  could  each  count 
their  quota  of  graves  in  the  favorite  cemetery.  I  have  not 
and  perhaps  never  will  forget  the  direful  maledictions  upon 
my  first  attempt  and  promise  to  effect  a  harmless  cure,  when 
with  heated  tongue  and  hotter  words  my  effort  was  charac- 
terized as  the  plea  of  the  experimenter  to  accomplish  some- 
thing my  seniors  had  not  dared  to  attempt.  The  maladies  of 
later  infancy  and  childhood  commande<:l  more  intelligent  at- 
tention and  were  treated  in  general  upon  the  basis  of  identity 
with  similar  affections  in  adults.  Calomel. was  the  popular 
drug  in  general  use  and  universal  application,  varying  in 
dosage  and  admixture  with  other  drugs  according  to  symp- 
toms, without  any  special  regard  to  the  nature  of  the  morbid 
process.  ]\Ieasles  found  its  panacea  in  saffron  tea  and  an  over- 
heated chamber ;  scarlet  fever  was  treated  with  throat  mops, 
inunction  with  bacon  fat,  and  general  medication  ad  nauseam; 
pleurisy  and  pneumonia  with  sinapisms,  embrocations,  blis- 
ters, cups,  venesection,  tartar  emetic,  and,  of  course,  calomel, 
and  such  other  medicaments  as  fancy  and  whim  might  suggest. 
Diet  and  feeding  and  ice  and  cold  water  were  unknown  quan- 
tities in  the  practitioner's  armamentarium.  The  drummer 
fiends  had  not  then  invaded  the  District  of  Columbia. 

The  diarrhceal  diseases  or  "  summer  complaints  "  of  young 
children  were  considered  indispensable  conditions  of  teething ; 
and  lancing  of  the  gums  to  promote  eruption  of  the  tardy  in- 
cisors was  the  inflexible  law  of  initial  treatment,  to  be  followed 
by  the  administration  of  drugs  ad  infiniium.  Calomel  and 
chalk,  lead  and  opium,  rhatany,  kino,  catechu,  and  blackberry 
root  in  tinctures  or  teas,  constituted  the  regime  of  therapeutics, 


336  PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES. 

with  a  dietary  of  breast-milk,  however  attenuated  with  age, 
supplemented  with  the  milk  of  one  cow  or  one  she-goat  fed 
upon  the  scanty  pasturage  of  uupaved  streets  or  the  refuse  of 
the  stable.  It  was  not  so  much  a  question  of  cure  as  of  sur- 
vival until  the  teeth  and  frost  came,  at  which  time  the  changes 
in  the  medication  and  limited  dietary  had  been  so  wrung  aloug 
the  grooves  of  empiricism  until  the  attenuated  forms  of  the 
survivors  were  only  held  together  by  the  joint  ligaments. 
All  else  had  disappeared  but  the  loose  and  flabby  skin  and 
bones. 

The  literature  of  the  diseases  of  infancy  and  childhood, 
even  at  that  date,  was  rich  in  treatises  by  Stewart,  Dewees, 
and  Condie,  of  our  own  country ;  of  U^nderwood,  in  England ; 
and  Billard,  Gjiersant,  and  Bouchut,  of  France ;  but  they 
were  only  found  on  tiie  library  shelves  of  the  comparatively 
few  progressive  practitioners  of  medicine  then  residing  in  this 
city.  These  were  speedily  followed  by  the  works  of  Meigs 
and  Pepper,  J.  Lewis. Smith,  Churchill,  Tanner,  Vogel,  and 
numerous  others  of  later  date,  until  now  the  bibliography  of 
pediatric  medicine  is  a  library  in  itself. 

It  was  the  custom  then  with  many  well-to-do  families  to 
employ  young  men  to  attend  the  children,  and  when  to  this 
was  added  the  circumstance  that  I  was  somewhat  interested 
in  that  branch  of  medicine,  and  was  accredited  by  several  of 
my  seniors,  my  opportunities  for  observation  and  success  were 
very  much  enhanced. 

Surgery  and  obstetrics  were  quite  up  to  the  general  standard 
of  excellence.  There  was  no  physician  who  devoted  his  atten- 
tion exclusively  to  either  of  these  branches  of  medicine,  but 
there  were  several  very  dexterous  and  successful  surgeons,  and 
an  equal  number  who  were  thoroughly  qualified  obstetricians. 
Every  physician  who  either  wished  to  retain  or  to  acquire 
business  attended  cases  of  confinement,  but  only  a  limited 
number  undertook  operative  surgery.  The  men  with  large 
family  practices  attended  large  numbers  of  obstetrical  cases; 
except  in  a  few  instances  they  would  refer  some  such  cases  to 


PEBSOXAL  REMINISCENCES.  337 

a  favorite  but  younger  practitioner  who  was  seeking  that  class 
of  business.  Operative  obstetrics  was  almost  entirely  limited 
to  the  two  professors  of  that  branch,  one  in  each  of  the  medical 
schools  of  medicine  then  in  existence.  Anaesthesia  in  surgery 
and  obstetrics  was  introduced  early  after  its  discovery,  but 
only  a  few  of  those  who  attended  childbirths  ventured  to 
employ  it,  and  some  of  them  only  when  the  patient  demanded 
it.  Its  use  was  not,  however,  confined  to  the  young  men. 
Puerperal  mortality  was  much  higher  and  stillbirths  much 
more  numerous  than  now.  Resuscitation  of  the  stillborn  was 
an  unknown  expedient,  and  puerperal  or  childbed  fever  was 
a  general  designation  covering  numerous  puerperal  maladies, 
the  most  of  which  were  ascribed  to  indiscretion  in  diet,  diso- 
bedience of  orders,  imprudent  exposure,  or  some  other  more 
trivial  circumstance.  Neither  surgeon,  obstetrician,  nor  other 
general  practitioner  hesitated  to  go  direct  from  the  dressing 
of  a  foul  wound,  a  case  of  erysipelas,  or  other  infectious  disease 
to  a  labor  case.  Such  culpable  negligence  was  rife  with  dis- 
astrous results,  notwithstanding  the  fanpus  controversy  of 
Holmes  with  Meigs  and  Hodge  and  the  proclamation  of 
danger  by  Semmellweis,  which  sounded  the  imheeded  tocsin 
of  alarm,  by  conveyance  of  septic  poison  to  the  lying-in  by 
phvsicians  in  attendance  upon  patients  suffering  from  certain 
infectious  diseases  and  contagions.  Antisepsis  and  antiseptic 
precautions  were  unknown,  and  even  cleanliness  of  the  body, 
bed,  and  chamber  of  the  lying-in  woman  was  neglected,  and 
in  many  cases  forbidden,  because  of  alleged  danger  of  taking 
cold.  The  diet  of  such  patients  was  generally  limited  to  toast 
and  table  tea  until  after  the  establishment  of  the  milk  secre- 
tion, and  then  perhaps  a  more  generous  diet  of  animal  broths 
in  very  small  quantities  at  fixed  intervals,  with  the  most  rigid 
injunctions  against  excesses.  On  the  night  of  the  third  day 
the  routine  dose  of  castor  oil  was  administered  nolens  volens. 

Puerperal  convulsions  were  treated,  perhaps  exclusively, 
with  copious  venesection,  with  the  addition,  in  occasional 
cases,  of  an  active  purgative.     The  success  of  the  treatment 

22 


338  PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES. 

in  selected  cases  was  quite  as  good  as  more  recent  methods, 
but  it  lacked  the  discrimination  which  a  more  thorough 
knowledge  of  causation  has  contributed  to  greater  success. 
Such  cases  were  more  frequent,  because  of  the  total  neglect  of 
preventive  treatment.  The  precursory  symptoms  which  so 
clearly  indicate  the  threatening  complication  of  pregnancy 
and  labor  received  but  little  and  in  most  cases  no  attention 
beyond  the  comforting  assurance  that  the  alleged  disturbances 
were  conditions  incident  to  and  would  subside  with  the  termi- 
nation of  the  pregnancy.  Urinary  analysis  was  rarely  made, 
and  then  only  in  a  crude  manner  by  unsatisfactory  methods. 
The  treatment  of  this  and  other  complications  of  pregnancy 
and  labor  have  steadily  advanced  with  the  progress  of  scientific 
investigation,  until  the  methods  of  prevention  have  been  so 
multiplied  and  perfected  and  are  so  generally  understood  and 
employed  that  the  mortality  of  the  lying-in  has  been  reduced 
to  a  fraction  of  one  per  cent. 

Surgery  and  obstetrics  have  kept  pace  with  the  marvellous 
progress  which  has  brought  these  branches  up  to  their  present 
standard  of  excellence  and  exactness,  and  the  roster  of  the 
Medical  Society  of  the  District  of  Columbia  contains  the 
names  of  men  whose  reputations  at  home  and  abroad  are 
equal  to  any  in  the  country.  The  discovery  and  introduction 
of  anaesthesia,  antisepsis  and  methods  of  preventioUj  more 
enlarged  experience,  improved  operative  skill,  greater  accuracy 
in  diagnosis,  and  a  higher  standard  of  medical  education  have 
widened  the  scope  of  these  departments  of  medical  science 
and  added  lustrous  success  to  their  achievements.  In  this 
progress  and  these  results  the  profession  of  this  District  has 
shared  alike  with  progressive  men  in  every  part  of  the  world. 

It  may  be  asserted  that  gynecology,  a  specialism  closely 
allied  to  surgery  and  obstetrics,  has  been  wholly  developed 
during  the  present  half-century.  It  has  grown  from  a  green 
baize  handbag,  with  its  contents  of  several  cylindrical  specula, 
a  sponge-holder,  porte-caustique  and  glass  pessary,  and  an  oc- 
casional patient  reluctantly  submitting  to  a  physical  examina- 


PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES.  339 

tion,  to  the  stupendous  proportions  of  great  hospitals  and 
private  sauatoriuras  in  every  city  and  township  in  the  land, 
with  all  the  addenda  of  luxury  and  scientific  adornment  tiiat 
lavish  wealth  and  proficient  skill  can  provide  for  the  patients 
of  all  ages,  grades,  and  castes  of  suffering  women,  who  flock 
in  droves  to  secure  admission  to  the  institutions  owned  and 
conducted  by  men  of  recognized  ability,  dexterity,  and  success 
in  this  special  department  of  medical  science.  The  annals  of 
medicine  furnish  nothing  comparable  to  the  development 
which  has  crowned  the  researches  and  discoveries  of  Simpson 
in  Scotland,  Baker  Brown  in  England,  Marion  Sims  in 
America,  and  Gustave  Simon  in  Germany,  who  simulta- 
neously sprang  up  in  distant  lauds  and  illuminated  the  civil- 
ized world  with  achievements  that  have  restored  millions  of 
suffering  women  to  health,  strength,  and  vigor.  Not  less 
marvellous  have  been  the  development  and  multiplication  of 
patients  with  the  commensurate  increase  in  the  number  of 
gynecologists,  with  genius  to  promote,  utilize,  and  enlarge  the 
scope  of  their  brilliant  discoveries  until  gynecology  has  grown 
into  a  vast  field  of  such  enticing  opportunities  that  the  novice, 
without  manual  experience,  can  leap  from  the  lecture-room 
and  college  clinic  into  the  croAvded  wards  of  his  own  private 
hospital  equipped  with  all  the  auxiliary  appurtenances  of 
mechanical  skill  and  addenda  of  progressive  gynecology,  to 
the  end  that  women  must  be  cured  of  complaints  and  dis- 
orders of  which  their  grandmothers  knew  not,  and  learn  how 
not  to  die  until  their  time  has  come.  Women,  since  the  days 
of  Eve,  have  lived,  menstruated,  married,  borne  children,  suf- 
fered lacerations  of  the  perineum  and  cervix  and  other  ab- 
dominal, pelvic,  and  uterine  disorders,  but  not  until  the 
impetus  given  to  surgical  gynecology  by  the  discovery  of 
anaesthesia  in  1846  and  Sims's  speculum  in  1848,  did  the 
epidemic  of  this  class  of  diseases  begin  which  has  continuously 
spread  over  the  civilized  world  until  now  it  is  barely  possible 
to  find  one  free  from  some  one  of  these  disorders  so  quickly 
cured  by  the  knife.     When  I  came  to  this  city  there  was  not 


340  PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES. 

one  gynecologist  here ;  now  the  town  is  full  of  thera,  and 
more  are  coming.  They  are  like  vicious  habits — as  soon  as 
one  is  acquired,  others  follow  in  quick  succession. 

At  the  beginning  of  the  present  half-century,  as  before,  the 
practice  of  medicine  in  this  District  was  in  the  exclusive 
control  of  the  general  practitioner,  popularly  known  as  the 
"  family  doctor,"  a  few  of  whom  devoted  special  attention  to 
some  one  branch  of  medicine,  as,  for  instance,  surgery,  mid- 
wifery, or  ophthalmology  ;  but  they  took  all  classes  of  disease 
and  accepted  all  cases  referred  to  them  by  the  general  prac- 
titioner. The  "  family  doctor  "  has  been  so  generally  and 
successfully  supplanted  by  the  limited  specialists  that  barely 
enough  of  them  are  left  to  flavor  the  general  composition  of 
the  fraternity.  The  subdivision  and  creation  of  new  fields  of 
labor  hav^e  contributed  to  the  great  advance  and  present  high 
standard  of  medical  science.  It  is  probable  the  limit  of  such 
subdivision  has  not  yet  been  reached,  for  several  of  the 
specialisms — gynecology,  for  instance — give  signs  of  breaking 
up  into  one  or  more  minor  specialties.  In  fact,  if  the  patrons 
of  this  and  several  other  specialisms  continue  to  increase  in 
the  same  proportion  as  during  the  past  forty  years,  they  will 
each  break  up  into  specialties  of  single  diseases,  and  then  people 
will  only  die  by  accident  and  old  age.  Indeed,  it  is  not  with- 
out hope  that  these  two  causes  of  death  will  eventually  sub- 
mit to  the  successful  treatment  of  some  as  yet  undiscovered 
specialism. 

Notwithstanding  the  relief  from  such  multifarious  duties 
which  has  thus  come  to  the  general  practitioner  through  the 
humane  interposition  of  the  brethren  who  limit  their  practice 
to  the- diseases  of  one  or  two  regions  of  the  body,  and  take 
everything  else  that  offers,  the  practice  of  medicine  in  general 
has  not  lagged  behind  the  general  advance,  as  shown  by  the 
great  diminution  in  the  mortality  ratios  of  the  few  remnants 
left  by  the  numerous  robberies. 

The  appearance  of  Wood's  Practice  of  Medicine  in  1847-48, 
to  which  I  have  referred  in  Chapter  III.,  gave  such  an  impetus 


PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES.  341 

to  the  general  practice  of  medicine  that  it  seems  to  have  sud- 
denly sprung  from  the  routine  of  obscure  diagnosis  and  crude 
therapeusis  into  a  scientific  pursuit  based  upon  physiology, 
pathology,  physiological  medication,  and  accuracy  in  the  dif- 
ferentiation of  diseases.  Then  came  the  Avar,  which  gave  force 
to  new  thought  and  enlarged  conceptions  of  scientific  research, 
followed  in  rapid  succession  by  such  discoveries  as  have  com- 
pletely revolutionized  the  practice  of  the  healing  art  and  well- 
nigh  accomplished  the  full  measure  of  its  beneficence.  Rou- 
tinism  has  ceased  to  be  an  accomplishment,  and  the  man  who 
fails  to  recognize  to-day  in  any  given  case  what  was  not  present 
yesterday,  does  not  understand  the  natural  history  of  disease, 
and  neglects  to  meet  conditions  as  they  arise,  and  even,  in 
many  instances,  to  anticipate  the  varyieg  changes  that  may 
occur  in  the  picture  before  him,  will  surely  glide  into  merited 
obscurity.  The  grip  of  the  "  family  "  doctor  does  not  shackle 
the  practice  of  medicine  nowadays.  Y 

Only  those  can  realize  and  appreciate  the  importance  and 
significance  of  the  progress  in  the  recent  past  who  saw  fecal 
abscess  before  appendicitis  was  defined,  listened  to  long  dis- 
courses to  establish  the  identity  of  typhus  and  typhoid  fevers, 
have  been  cognizant  of  the  continuous  progress  in  the  diag- 
nosis and  treatment  of  the  diseases  of  the  thoracic  and  abdo- 
minal viscera,  followed  the  improved  and  enlarged  dietary  of 
sick  people,  and  been  compelled  to  reconstruct  their  opinions, 
remodel  their  methods,  and  adapt  themselves  to  the  advance- 
ment in  the  pharmacy  of  medicines  during  the  last  five  decades 
of  progressive  medicine. 

With  the  advanceraeflt  in  the  study  of  the  nature  of  disease 
and  more  definite  and  comprehensive  knowledge  of  morbid 
processes,  physicians  have  learned  that  it  is  as  important  to 
know  what  not  to  do  as  it  is  to  know  what  to  do  and  how  to 
do  it,  and  that  internal  medication  is  not  the  sole  object  of 
medical  science ;  that  high  temperatures  can  be  reduced  by 
methods  other  than  potential  draughts,  drastic  catharsis,  and 
blood-letting  ad  deliquium  animi;  that  opium  narcosis  is  not 


342  PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES. 

the  only  analgesic ;  that  overhe?ited  chambers  and  polluted 
atmosphere  are  not  conducive  to  the  restoration  of  health  ; 
that  ice,  ice-water,  and  other  cooling  draughts,  with  fresh  air 
and  free  ventilation,  are  immeasurably  more  fruitful  in  good 
than  evil ;  that  alcohol  is  not  a  remedy  for  all  conditions  and 
grades  of  disease ;  and  that  proper  foods,  with  systematic 
feeding  and  skilled  nursing,  are  not  less  important  than 
chemical  compounds  and  vegetable  alkaloids. 

The  subdivision  of  labor  and  establishment  of  specialism 
in  medicine  have  been  the  chief  factors  in  the  promotion  of 
its  marvellous  progress  during  the  past  fifteen  years.  In  view 
of  the  fact  that  surgery,  obstetrics,  and  ophthalmology  in 
many  of  the  great  cities  of  the  civilized  world  had  many  years 
before  established  their  independence  of  the  general  practice 
of  medicine,  and  had  thereby  attained  a  standard  of  proficiency 
much  higher  than  medicine  in  general,  it  seems  strange  to  one 
who  has  witnessed  the  recent  progress  that  the  subdivision 
into  more  limited  special  departments  had  been  so  long  de- 
layed, and  so  slow  to  demonstrate  the  importance  and  neces- 
sity of  special  expert  education  as  the  only  method  of  fitting 
men  for  the  highest  skill  in  limited  special  duties.  It  is  true 
that  in  the  earlier  subdivisions  the  specialist  began  as  a  gen- 
eral practitioner,  with,  perhaps  in  some  instances,  predilec- 
tions which  were  sedulously  cultivated  aud  trained ;  but  most 
frequently  incidental  circumstances  and  favorable  opportuni- 
ties occurring  in  the  line  of  business  fitted  him  for  one  of  the 
special  branches  to  which  he  subsequently  exclusively  devoted 
his  labors,  and  such  is  the  proper  course  of  education  and 
training  that  best  qualifies  a  physician  as  an  expert  in  any 
specialty,  and  has  given  to  the  profession  the  specialists  of 
highest  renown.  But  the  progress  in  medical  science  is  mainly 
due  to  the  specialists  in  laboratory  work,  to  whom  the  world 
owes  the  great  discoveries  in  histology,  bacteriology,  physi- 
ology, aud  therapeutics,  upon  which  are  based  the  advances 
and  achievements  in  practical  medicine  and  practical  special- 
ism.     Such   being  the  case,  it  is  not   surprising   that   the 


PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES.  343 

profession  in  a  young  city  like  this,  which  lacked  the  oppor- 
tunities for  original  research  and  investigation,  should  have 
been  slow  to  accept  specialism,  as  the  most  direct  course  to 
attain  that  distinction  to  which  it  is  now  entitled.  But  even 
yet  specialism  in  this  District,  as  in  some  other  cities  in  this 
country,  has  not,  except  in  a  few  instances,  risen  to  the  dig- 
nity of  a  class  or  classes  of  scientific  and  skilled  experts 
devoted  exclusively  to  the  prescribed  limitations  of  their 
respective  specialties,  and  continues  to  encroach  upon  the 
domain  of  general  medicine  to  the  injury  and  detriment  of 
all  classes  of  practitioners,  and  in  some  measure  impeding 
progress.  Public  opinion  has  so  cordially  and  generally  ac- 
cepted specialism  in  medicine  as  affording  the  highest  type 
and  grade  of  scientific  work,  it  only  remains  for  the  profession 
to  complete  the  transfers  by  the  ostracism  of  hybridism- 

In  no  department  has  the  practice  of  medicine  in  this  Dis- 
trict shown  greater  progress  than  in  the  nursing,  and  this 
reformation  has  been  mostly  accomplished  during  the  past 
ten  years.  I  was  educated  in  the  Obstetric  Institute  in  Phila- 
delphia, in  a  class  with  women  being  taught  and  trained  under 
the  immediate  observation  and  direction  of  a  teacher  of  ob- 
stetrics, and  began  practice  in  this  city  at  a  period  when  a 
trained  obstetric  nurse  could  not  be  obtained  except  as  a 
special  favor  of  one  or  two  physicians  who  had  educated  a 
few  for  their  own  employment.  It  is  true  there  were  a  few 
venerable  and  antiquated  old  prodigies,  garrulous  with  gas- 
conade and  portentous  advice,  who  would  only  honor  an  en- 
gagement among  people  of  "  quality."  Aunt  Phillis  and  Hen- 
rietta Steptoe  had,  in  public  estimation,  risen  to  the  dignity  of 
Madame  Lachapelle,  and  their  vernacular  and  oracular  dispen- 
sations were  implicitly  believed  and  accepted  as  the  rule  of  con- 
duct in  the  lvino;-in  chamber  of  high  life.  The  nurses  on  the 
market  belonged  to  a  class  of  ''old  grannies,"  mostly  of  the 
colored  race,  who  had  loosely  fallen  into  the  habit  of  "  nuss- 
ing  sick  ladies  with  little  'uns,"  who  held  water  and  cleanli- 
ness in  holy  horror,  starved  the  mothers  on  "  toast  and  table 


344  PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES. 

tea,"  and  stuffed  the  babies  with  '^ goose  oil"  and  "sugar 
tits."  I  fear  there  is  yet  left  a  regiment  or  more  of  such 
grannies  to  haunt  the  lives  of  the  doctors  to  the  poor,  but  the 
well-to-do  classes  can  be  sup])lied  with  nurses  of  the  highest 
grade  of  qualification,  graduates  from  training  schools  in  this 
and  other  cities. 

The  Washington  Directory  for  Nurses,  for  the  most  part, 
if  not  wholly,  owes  its  organization  and  permanent  establish- 
ment in  this  city  to  the  Medical  Society  of  the  District  of 
Columbia.  It  has  now  become  self-supporting,  and  is  pro- 
vided with  ample  accommodations  for  the  complete  fulfilment 
of  all  requirements  of  such  an  institution ;  but  it  lacks  that 
general  support  of  the  profession  of  the  District  to  which  it 
is  entitled,  and  to  which  it  must  appeal  for  that  continued 
success  and  usefulness  which  have  contributed  so  much  to  the 
improved  management  and  treatment  of  disease.  It  has  be- 
come a  common  practice  for  competent  and  popular  nurses, 
after  haviug  qualified  by  registry  and  indorsement,  and  ac- 
quired special  popularity  with  members  of  the  profession,  to 
withdraw  from  the  Directory  and  organize  iuto  separate 
directories  of  limited  numbers,  with  definite  headquarters  at 
selected  localities,  and  then,  by  special  and  personal  solicita- 
tion, obtain  preference  in  selection  over  those  to  whom  em- 
ployment should  be  given.  The  members  of  the  Medical 
Society  owe  it  to  themselves  to  foster  this  institution  to  the 
exclusion  of  all  private  directories  or  associations  of  nurses, 
I  know  this  recommendation  will  invoke  the  criticism  of  some 
of  the  best  and  most  popular  nurses  in  this  city,  but  my  duty 
to  the  sick  in  this  community  is  far  above  my  interest  in  the 
success  of  any  one  or  coterie  of  nurses. 

The  transactions  of  the  Medical  Society  of  the  District  ot 
Columbia  during  the  past  year  (1894)  give  impetus  to  the 
progress  which  has  marked  the  liistory  of  the  profession  since 
1866.  A  practical  and  active  working  medical  society  is  the 
final  extension  of  the  collegiate  and  hospital  education.  The 
later  history  of  the  profession  in  this  District  establishes  the 


PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES.  345 

fact  that,  with  but  few  exceptions,  those  who  have  attained 
the  greatest  success  have  been  active  and  intelligent  workers 
in  this  Society. 

Since  the  date  (1866)  at  which  the  scientific  department 
was  reorganized  the  number  and  value  of  contributions  have 
increased  beyond  the  possil)ility  of  any  statement  sufficiently 
condensed  for  this  volume  that  would  intelligently  and  ade- 
quately set  forth  their  active  and  relative  scientific  value. 
Suffice  it  to  say  that  many,  both  in  the  line  of  exhaustive 
discussion  and  original  research,  have  been  of  the  highest 
merit  and  given  to  their  authors  world-wide  reputations. 
Much,  however,  remains  to  be  accomplished.  The  Transac- 
tions of  the  past  year  give  promise  of  a  progressive  future 
and  the  speedy  attainment  of  that  success  in  medical  science 
which  its  location  at  the  Xational  Capital  demands. 

During  the  past  two  years  the  Medical  Society  has  asserted 
itself  with  that  vigor,  force,  and  power  which  such  a  body  of 
men  united  in  a  common  cause  can  develop  and  exercise. 

For  the  first  time  in  the  history  of  this  Government  the 
House  of  Representatives  of  the  Congress  of  the  United 
States  has,  through  one  of  its  standing  committees,  invited  a 
medical  society  to  appear,  through  a  committee  of  its  members, 
before  it,  to  present  and  explain  the  report  of  its  investigations 
into  the  causes  and  prevalence  of  certain  diseases  in  this 
District,  and  the  importance  and  necessity  for  an  increased 
and  improved  water-supply  aud  sewerage  extension ;  and, 
after  having  heard  that  Committee,  ordered  by  joint  resolution 
of  both  houses  of  Congress,  four  thousand  copies  of  the  re- 
port to  be  printed  and  illuminated  with  the  graphic  illustra- 
tions which  its  Committee  had  prepared  to  exhibit  and 
demonstrate  the  completeness  of  its  investigations.  Never 
before  in  the  history  of  this  Society  has  the  municipal  govern- 
ment sought  its  advice  and  counsel  in  matters  of  grave  im- 
portance pertaining  to  sanitary  science.  Not  until  recently 
has  any  body  of  citizens  requested  a  conference  with  a  com- 
mittee of  this  Society  in  the  interest  of  reforms  in  which  the 


346  PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES. 

Board  of  Trade  is  equally  concerned  and  has  declared  its 
purpose  to  promote.  And  more  recently  this  Society  has 
become  a  more  conspicuous  and  influential  factor  in  the  efforts 
to  secure  such  legislation  by  Congress  as  will  prove  conducive 
to  the  health  of  this  District  and  protect  its  citizens  and  resi- 
dents from  preventable  and  very  prevalent  diseases.  Through 
the  confidence  and  partiality  of  my  colleagues  during  the  past 
and  present  year  the  duty  has  devolved  upon  me,  as  its  chief 
executive  officer  and  chairman  of  its  Committee  on  Legisla- 
tion, to  set  forth  before  public  assemblages  of  citizens  and 
committees  of  Congress  the  work  of  this  Society  in  measures 
of  sanitary  reform  and  preventive  medicine  that  have  won  for 
it  the  respect  and  confidence  of  the  community  at  large. 
Whatever  of  good  that  may  come  to  the  people  from  the 
agitation  and  enactment  of  such  legislative  reforms,  some  of 
which  it  has  originated  and  to  others  given  active  support  in 
co-operation  with  the  Commissioners  of  the  District  and 
Board  of  Trade,  to  this  Society  must  be  ascribed  that  force  and 
influence  which  could  only  be  exercised  by  a  body  of  physi- 
cians united  in  a  common  cause. 

The  orgauization  of  the  American  Medical  Association  in 
1847,  and  of  the  various  special  medical  societies,  together 
with  the  recent  enlargement  of  the  curriculum  of  medical 
colleges,  have  contributed  largely  to  the  advancement  .of 
medical  science  in  this  city  as  throughout  the  country.  Iq 
fact,  it  may  be  asserted  that  the  combination  of  men  of  skill 
and  capacity  into  distinct  and  special  organizations  devoted  to 
the  consideration  of  special  classes  of  disease  has  been  one  of 
the  chief  factors  in  promoting  the  rapid  development  of  the 
recent  past.  The  colleges  in  this  city  have  advanced  with  the 
general  progress  in  the  teaching  of  medicine.  Special  societies 
have  also  been  organized.  At  my  suggestion  the  Washington 
Obstetrical  and  Gynecological  Society  was  organized  in  1882, 
and  has  continued  in  uninterrupted  operation  to  date.  It  is 
probable  that  no  activity  has  contributed  more,  or  even  as 
much,  to  the  advancement  in  this  city  of  the  science  of  Ob- 


PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES.  347 

stetrics,  Gynecology,  and  Pediatric  Medicine.  The  Medical 
and  Surgical  Society  of  the  District  of  Columbia  and  the 
Clinico- Pathological  Society  cover  broader  fields  of  study  and 
are  doing  most  excellent  work.  To  these  special  organizations, 
together  with  the  very  active  operations  of  the  Medical  Society 
of  the  District  of  Columbia,  now  passed  its  seventy-sixth 
year  of  existence,  the  marvellous  progress  of  medical  science 
in  this  District  is,  for  the  most  part,  to  be  ascribed. 

In  a  previous  chapter  (XII.)  I  have  set  forth  the  history  of 
hospital  development  in  this  District,  and  it  remains  only  to 
invite  attention  to  the  progress  in  that  direction  during  the 
period  named.  In  1848  the  hospital  accommodations  con- 
sisted of  the  Washington  City  and  Georgetown  Alms-houses 
and  the  Washington  City  Infirmary,  under  the  exclusive 
management  of  the  faculty  of  the  National  Medical  College. 
To  the  latter  institution  only  were  cases  of  disease,  per  se, 
admitted.  Each  of  the  other  institutions  was  provided  by 
the  respective  municipalities  with  a  physician  with  a  moderate 
salary,  whose  duty  was  limited  to  such  medical  services  as  the 
inmates  needed.  Now  there  are  four  fully  equipped  general 
hospitals — the  Providence,  the  Garfield  Memorial,  the  Freed- 
men's,  and  the  Sibley  Memorial ;  two  special  hospitals — the 
Columbia  Hospital  and  Lying-in  Asylum  and  the  Hospital 
for  Sick  Children ;  one  emergency  hospital  and  several  large 
public  dispensaries  in  successful  operation.  These  foundations 
are  not  only  commendable  to  the  enterprise  of  a  progressive 
community,  but  establish  the  progress  and  standing  of  the 
medical  profession,  to  which  their  establishment  is  in  the 
main  due. 

The  history  of  hospital  development  in  tliis  District,  as  told 
in  Chapter  XII.,  sets  forth  the  progress  of  medicine  during 
the  past  thirty  years  and  the  struggle  of  the  profession  to 
surmount  the  obstacles  growing  out  of  the  factional  jealous- 
ies, individual  antagonisms,  and  the  broken  faith  of  lay 
directories  which  have  so  handicapped  the  spirits  of  scientific 
progress  that  much  remains  to  be  accomplished  before  the 


348  PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES. 

full  measure  of  success  will  be  attained.  If  my  young  con- 
temporaries who  now  bold  the  sceptre  of  ])ower  will  assert 
their  prerogatives  and  pursue  their  purpose  with  indomitable 
will  and  undaunted  courage,  the  coming  future  will  speedily 
crown  their  efforts  with  complete  and  brilliant  success,  which 
will  redound  alike  to  their  power  and  to  the  dignity  and 
majesty  of  the  profession. 

In  1848  the  Medical  Department  of  Columbian  College  was 
the  only  medical  school  in  this  District.  Its  classes  did  not 
exceed  in  number  two  scores  of  students.  In  1850  the  Medi- 
cal Department  of  Georgetown  College  was  established.  Since 
that  date  the  Medical  Department  of  the  Howard  and  the 
National  Universities  have  been  established.  All  of  these 
schools  are  now  in  successful  operation  with  largely  increasing 
classes.  Medical  teaching  in  this  city  has  advanced  along  the 
line  of  general  progress  and  kept  pace  with  that  in  the  older 
centres  of  learning. 

In  1876  the  Medical  Department  of  Georgetown  University 
was  reorganized,  and  I  returned  to  the  faculty  as  the  Professor 
of  Theory  and  Practice  of  Medicine.  Immediately  after  the 
conclusion  of  the  succeeding  course,  1876-77,  the  faculty 
proceeded  to  reorganize  the  curriculum,  and  in  1878  estab- 
lished the  three-years'  graded  course,  with  written  examina- 
tions. The  Medical  Department  of  Columbian  University 
inaugurated  a  similar  course  of  instruction  in  1879-80,  and 
in  1893  both  of  these  schools  established  the  four-years'  graded 
course.  The  classes  of  both  colleges  increased  in  the  number 
of  matriculates  from  the  dates  of  reorganization,  and  have 
continuously  increased  from  year  to  year  since.  There  re- 
mains, however,  a  grave  defect  in  their  systems  of  teaching. 
The  limitation  of  the  lecture  hours  to  the  night,  beginning 
about  5.30  p.m.,  can  never  receive  the  indorsement  of  the 
advocates  of  advanced  progress  in  medical  teaching.  Sun- 
down-teaching must,  to  a  greater  or  less  extent,  make  "  sun- 
down-doctors." Both  of  these  schools  have  reached  that 
stage  of  success  when  they  can  afford  to  eliminate  this  defect 


PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES.  349 

in  their  systems.  It  is  true  each  of  these  colleges  has 
graduated  men  of  marked  ability,  who  have  attained  distinc- 
tion in  medicine;  but  it  is  equally  true  that  their  commend- 
able enterprise  has  not  been  rewarded  with  the  success  it 
deserves. 

The  method  aud  system  of  teachino-  medicine  have  so 
changed  that  mere  didactic  lecturing  has  become  obsolete,  and 
the  manuscript-reading  professor  has  been  relegated  to  the 
museum  of  antiquities  as  a  commemorative  cenotaph  of  a 
by-gone  period,  when  drowsy  students  slept  in  profound 
ignorance  of  the  contents  of  the  musty  manuscript.  The 
reforms  of  recent  date  consist  in  preliminary  examinations, 
not  yet  generally  adopted ;  the  lengthening  of  the  period  of 
study  to  three  years  in  many,  and  to  four  years  in  some  of 
the  colleges ;  careful  grading  of  the  courses  of  study ;  prac- 
tical demonstration  at  the  bedside  and  in  the  laboratories ;  the 
establishment  of  fixed  salaries  for  the  professors,  and  the  en- 
actment of  Medical  Practice  Laws  in  thirty-eight  States  of 
the  UuioD,  in  sixteen  of  which  a  diploma  from  a  medical 
college  has  no  legal  force  beyond  the  fact  that  it  bears  tes- 
timony of  graduation  from  a  college. 

The  enactment  of  Medical  Practice  Laws  has  emphasized 
the  reforms  in  the  plans  of  teaching  and  discredited  the 
graduates  of  the  low-grade  schools.  The  standard  of  educa- 
tion has  been  elevated  to  that  extent  that  forty-two  colleges 
have  established  the  four-years'  graded  course  with  increased 
number  of  matriculates.  As  yet  the  District  of  Columbia  is 
without  a  Medical  Practice  Law,  notwithstanding  the  efforts 
of  the  Medical  Society  of  the  District  of  Columbia  for  several 
years  past  to  secure  such  a  law,  and  consequently  it  has  become 
the  rendezvous  for  the  graduates  of  low-grade  schools,  who 
continuously  replenish  and  increase  the  ranks  of  pretenders 
and  impostors.  So  long  as  the  people  at  large  continue  to 
send  to  Congress  two-penny  men  from  three-penny  villages, 
so  long  will  it  fail  to  rise  to  the  dignity  and  gravity  of  the 
occasion  and  refuse  to  enact  for  this  District  such  a  Medical 


350  PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES. 

Practice  Law  as  their    respective    State   Legislatures   have 
deemed  wise  and  necessary. 

Free-thinking  is  as  reprehensible  in  medicine  as  in  law  and 
religion.  Every  orthodox  religion  is  based  upon  the  Bible  as 
the  only  standard  of  truth,  and  every  orthodox  denomination 
requires  of  its  ecclesiastics  an  educational  qualitication.  In 
every  Christian  congregation  there  are  many  Biblicists  quite 
competent  to  detect  false  doctrines  and  erroneous  teachings 
and  sufficiently  courageous  to  expose  and  combat  every  de- 
parture on  the  part  of  the  priest  or  pastor  from  their 
respective  creeds ;  in  addition  there  are  committees,  vestries, 
ruling  elders,  presbyteries,  synods,  general  assemblies,  an- 
nual and  general  conventions  and  conferences,  and  bishops, 
all,  according  to  their  respective  forms  and  creeds,  clothed 
with  ecclesiastical  authority  and  some  with  plenary  powers, 
thereby  securing  the  protection  from  pretenders  and  im- 
postors that  is  well-nigh  complete.  In  law  the  court,  the 
jury,  and  adversary  stand  between  client  and  the  verdict, 
and  justice  is  obtained.  In  medicine  the  knowledge  and  ex- 
perience of  the  physician  are  all  that  stand  between  the  pa- 
tient and  the  grave.  It  must,  then,  be  manifest  to  the  most 
casual  thinker  that  legalized  medicine,  with  the  requirement 
of  the  highest  standard  of  education  in  scientific  medicine, 
is  necessary  for  the  protection  of  every  community  from 
unscrupulous  pretenders  and  mercenary  impostors.  This  fact 
is  now  so  generally  recognized  that  nearly  every  State  Legis- 
lature has  enacted  a  law  to  that  effect.  The  Congress  of  the 
United  States  has  not  only  persistently  disregarded  the  will 
of  the  people  and  the  efforts  of  the  Medical  Society  of  the 
District  of  Columbia,  but  as  late  as  1893  chartered  a  so-called 
medical  organization,  with  power  "  from  time  to  time  to  make 
such  by-laws,  rules,  and  regulations  as  they  might  find  neces- 
sary, and  do  and  perform  such  other  things  as  may  be  requisite 
for  carrying  this  act  into  effect  and  which  may  not  be  repug- 
nant to  the  Constitution  and  laws  of  the  United  States."  In 
plain  English,  that  it  may  make  "  physicians"  as  it  may,  when 


PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES.  351 

and  in  such  number  as  it  pleases.  No  standard  is  prescribed, 
not  even  a  diploma  is  required.  It  can  make  one  of  its 
"  physicians  "  at  will  out  of  a  coal-heaver,  wood-sawyer,  or 
bar-tender,  and,  worse  than  all,  it  can  protect  the  advertising 
charlatan  who  seeks  to  gull  the  ignorant  and  credulous  masses 
by  robbing  them,  in  that  it  offers  him  the  cover  of  legalized 
fraud  by  admission  to  its  membership. 

The  foregoing  resume  is  an  inadequate  review  of  the  period 
1848-95,  but  it  brings  out  in  outline  the  contrast  between  the 
beginning  and  the  termination  of  the  period,  and  shows  the 
continuous  and  successive  stages  of  advancement  of  medical 
science  and  professional  opportunities  and  attainments  during 
the  lifetime  of  one  man.  It  might  have  been  made  more  or 
less  interesting  by  references  to  some  individual  members,  not 
previously  referred  to,  with  such  character  delineations  as 
might  revive  the  memories  of  men,  some  of  whom  have  long 
since  been  forgotten. 

Among  the  numerous  dead,  including  every  one  of  my 
seniors  in  membership  of  the  Medical  Society  of  the  District 
of  Columbia,  there  were  some  whose  conduct  in  life  was  not 
wholly  free  from  criticism ;  many  more  whose  usefulness  was 
cut  off  in  the  prime  of  life,  and  a  larger  number  whom  pos- 
terity will  hold  in  kindly  remembrance.  The  asterisk  of 
death  is  prefixed  to  two  luindred  and  fifty  names  on  the  roster 
of  the  profession,  but  not  to  one  is  the  stigma  of  moral  turpi- 
tude affixed. 

In  the  competitive  struggle  tact  and  talent  have  sharply 
defined  the  lines  between  merit  and  obsequiousness,  and  in 
medicine  as  in  other  occupations  tact  has  frequently,  here  as 
elsewhere,  during  the  past  forty-seven  years  as  during  other 
periods,  scored  triumphant  success,  while  merit,  less  often,  has 
failed  to  earn  a  decent  livelihood  or  win  a  place  on  the  roster 
of  honor ;  but  now  as  always,  and  here  as  everywhere,  merit  is 
the  most  direct  way  to  success  and  renown.  But  tact  is  not 
wholly  meretricious,  perhaps  only  so  when  totally  devoid  of 
principle,   high  aspirations,  and   human    kindness.     Talent 


352  PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES. 

accumulates  knowledge ;  tact  dispenses  and  converts  it  into 
power.  Tact  and  talent  create  genius  ;  hence  so  few  in  whom 
these  qualities  are  adjusted. 

A  few  fell  by  the  wayside  into  the  slough  of  Despond  and 
offered  their  lives  as  examples  which  honorable  men  seek  to 
escape.  Others,  gifted  with  sloth  and  lack  of  force,  never  left 
the  starting-post,  but  waited  in  contemptuous  complaint  for 
that  success  that  only  comes  to  those  M'ho  seek  it ;  and  some 
secluded  themselves  in  ignorance,  harmless  in  itself  but  harm- 
ful to  the  coufidiug  few  who  were  deceived  by  the  glamour 
of  pretence  and  empiricism.  But  the  majority  rose  above  the 
derelictions  and  vices  that  afflict  such  victims  with  disappoint- 
ment and  failure. 

The  medical  profession  of  this  District  is  now,  as  it  has 
,  been  through  very  many  years,  handicapped  by  poverty,  over- 
.'  crowding,  and  itinerancy  of  a  large  portion  of  the  population. 
The  annual  and  quadrennial  exoduses  are  so  large — now 
greater  than  at  any  previous  period — that  even  those  in  full 
practice  cannot  compute  their  incomes  for  any  succeeding 
year,  except  upon  the  reasonable  hypothesis  that  the  losses 
will  be  compensated  by  a  share  of  the  incoming  sojourners 
and  others  who  may  seek  a  permanent  residence,  or  only  to 
remain  for  one  or  several  years,  and  then  depart  to  return  no 
more.  Of  course,  those  in  high  standing  with  large  business 
and  tact  will  share  the  larger  portion  of  such  classes  of  people, 
and  their  losses  will  be  less  by  the  emigration.  Then,  too, 
the  winter  resident  is  synonymous  with  the  summer  absentee. 
When  the  carnival  is  over  fashion  and  wealth  seek  other 
scenes  of  pleasure  and  pastime,  to  return  with  the  winter 
solstice  to  repeat  the  role  of  the  society  season  and  attractions. 
And  to  these  sources  of  loss  must  be  added  the  flock  of  "dead- 
heads" and  "dead-beats"  that  follow  in  the  wake  of  dis- 
tinguished statesmen  and  live  in  crowded  attics  on  promises 
never  fulfilled.  This  city  is  also  the  favorite  resort  of  a  horde 
of  political  hangers-on,  who  splurge  in  paper  collars  and  bor- 
rowed cuffs  at  official  receptions,  are  always  impecunious,  but 


PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES.  353 

full  of  hope  and  promise  and  in  daily  expectation  of  a  remit- 
tance that  never  comes. 

But  few  of  the  dead  accumulated  a  competency  ;  some  strug- 
gled long  after  they  had  passed  the  age  of  active  life,  to  earn 
a  precarious  living,  and  many  more  left  behind  them  families 
to  contend  with  the  cold  grasp  of  poverty. 

Notwithstanding  the  disadvantages  of  a  cosmopolitan  and 
itinerant  population,  tiie  instability  of  government  employ- 
ment, vicious  legislation,  and  poverty,  the  profession  of  this 
District  has  accomplished  far  more  than  could  have  been 
reasonably  anticipated  a  half-century  ago,  and  now  presents 
itself  to  the  medical  world  as  a  body  of  men  animated  by  high 
aspirations  in  scientific  attainment. 

With  a  life  so  full  of  incidents,  and  the  witness  of  the  ad- 
vancement that  has  been  continuous  during  my  residence  in 
the  city  of  my  adoption,  I  can  afford  to  conclude  this  volume 
with  the  expression  of  gratitude  to  a  kind  Providence  that 
has  granted  to  me  this  privilege,  and  of  hope  that  my  con- 
temporaries and  survivors  will  continue  to  prosecute  with 
renewed  energy  and  fidelity  the  science  and  practice  of  medi- 
cine to  the  end  that  this  city  may  become  the  centre  of  medical 
thought  and  progress. 


23 


CHAPTER  XIX. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY   OF    COXTRIBUTIONS    TO    MEDICAL    LITERA- 
TURE  BY   SAMUEL   C.    BUSEY,    M.D. 

1869.  Bromide  of  Potassium,  Uses  and  Applications  of.    Transactions 

of  the  Medical  Society  of  the  District  of  Columbia.     Feb- 
ruary 3d. 

1870.  Artificial  Induction  of  Labor  in  Uraemia.     National  Medical 

Journal,  Washington,  1870-71,  vol.  ii.,  p.  1.     (Reprint.) 

1871.  Cancer  of  the  Lymphatics.     National  Medical  Journal,  Wash- 

ington, 1871,  vol.  i.,  p.  39. 
Progressive  Muscular  Atrophy  in  a  Child.     American  Journal 

of  Obstetrics,  1871,  vol.  iii.,  p.  569. 
Albuminuria  and  its  Connection  with  Puerperal  Eclampsia. 

Transactions   of  the  Medical    Society   of  the   District  of 

Columbia,  January. 

1872.  Determining  Cause  of  Labor  at  Full  Term.     American  Jour- 

nal of  Obstetrics,  1872,  vol.  iv.,  p.  1. 

Impaction  a  Cause  of  Vesico- vaginal  Fistula.  American  Jour- 
nal of  Obstetrics,  1872,  vol.  iv.,  p.  253. 

Impacted  Rectum  in  a  Child  Six  Years  Old.  National  Medical 
Journal,  vol.  ii. 

Obliteration  of  the  Cervix  Uteri  During  Pregnancy.  American 
Journal  of  Obstetrics,  1872,  vol.  v.,  p.  1. 

Chloroform  Poisoning.  American  Journal  of  the  Medical  Sci- 
ences, 1872,  vol.  Ixiv.,  p.  430. 

Is  the  Induction  of  Premature  Labor  as  a  Remedy  for  and  a 
Method  of  Prevention  of  Ursemic  Eclampsia  a  Practical  and 
a  Justifiable  Procedure  ?  National  Medical  Journal,  Wash- 
ington, 1872,  vol.  ii.,  pp.  1,  57,  113,  and  169.     (Reprint.) 

An  Inquiry  Into  the  Nature  of  the  Uterine  Supports  and  the 
Causes  of  Displacement.  American  Journal  of  Obstetrics, 
1872,  vol.  iv.,  p.  585. 

Cundurango:  Clinical  Reports;  Six  Cases;  Four  Deaths.  (Edi- 
torial) National  Medical  Journal,  Washington,  1872,  vol.  ii., 
p.  217. 

Carbolic  Acid  in  Intermittent  Fever.  National  Medical  Jour- 
nal, Washington,  1872,  vol.  ii.,  p.  287. 


PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES.  355 

1873.  Vaginal  Hemorrhage  in  an  Infant  Five  Days  Old.     American 

Journal  of  Obstetrics,  1873,  vol.  vi.,  p.  46. 
Bronchial  Catarrh  and  Bronchitis ;  Inutility  of  Expectorants. 

Transactions  of   the   Medical   Society  of   the   District   of 

Columbia,  February  19th. 
Obliteration  of  Cervix  Uteri  During  Pregnancy.     American 

Journal  of  Obstetrics,  vol.  v.,  p.  1. 
Poisoning  by  Rhus  Toxicodendron.     American  Journal  of  the 

Medical  Sciences,  1873,  vol.  Ixvi.,  p.  436 
Criminal  Abortion.    Transactions  of  the  Medical  Society  of  the 

District  of  Columbia,  April  23d. 
Three  Cases  of  Renal  Disease  in  Children,  probably  Caused  by 

Malaria.     American  Journal  of  the  Medical  Sciences,  vol. 

Ixv.,  p.  120. 
Bright's  Disease.     Transactions  of  the  Medical  Society  of  the 

District  of  Columbia,  February  5th. 

1874.  Dactylitis  Syphilitica.     American  Journal  Medical  Sciences, 

1874,  vol.  Ixviii.,  p.  434. 
Chorea  in  Pregnancy.     Transactions  of  the  Medical  Society  of 

the  District  of  Columbia,  February  11th. 
Abdominal  Tumors,  Diagnosis  of.    Transactions  of  the  Medical 

Society  of  the  District  of  Columbia,  June  17th. 
Biliary  Calculus.     Transactions  of  the  Medical  Society  of  the 

District  of  Columbia,  October  7th. 
Cancer,  Ovarian.     Transactions  of  the  Medical  Society  of  the 

District  of  Columbia,  May  27th. 

1875.  Epithelioma  of  the  Larynx.     American  Journal  of  the  Med- 

ical Sciences,  1875,  vol.  Ixix.,  p.  406. 

Abscess  of  the  Liver.  Transactions  of  the  Medical  Society  of 
the  District  of  Columbia,  December  1st. 

Mole,  Uterus,  Hydatiform.  Transactions  of  the  Medical  Soci- 
ety of  the  District  of  Columbia,  March  10th. 

The  Gathering,  Packing,  Transportation,  and  Sale  of  Fresh 
Vegetables  and  Fruits ;  Competent  Inspection  and  Free 
Markets  for  Producers.     The  Sanitarian,  1875,  April. 

Idem,  with  additions.  (Reprint.)  American  Public  Health 
Association,  1876,  vol.  ii. 

Pessaries.  Transactions  of  the  Medical  Society  of  the  District 
of  Columbia,  May  12th. 

Polypus  of  the  Tongue  and  Uvula.  American  Journal  of  the 
Medical  Sciences,  vol.  Ixix.,  p.  457. 

1876.  Address  in  Obstetrics  and  Diseases  of  Women  and  Children. 

Delivered  before  the  American  Medical  Association,  June 


356  PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES. 

8,  1876.     Transactions  American  Medical  Association,  Phil- 
adelphia, 1876,  vol.  xxvii.,  p.  261.     (Reprint.) 

Congenital  Stenosis  of  the  Aorta.  Transactions  of  the  Medical 
Society  of  the  District  of  Columbia,  May  17th. 

Cancer-colloid  of  Stomach  and  Mesentery.  Transactions  of 
the  Medical  Society  of  the  District  of  Columbia,  October  7th. 

Narrowing,  Occlusion  and  Dilatation  of  Lymph  Channels, 
Acquired  Form.  New  Orleans  Medical  and  Surgical  Jour- 
nal, 1876-78,  from  No.  3  to  No.  8  inclusive.     (Reprint.) 

Syphilis,  Congenital  Dactylitis,  Chronic  Suppurative  Otitis, 
Caries  of  Petrous  Portion  of  Right  Temporal  Bone ;  Abscess. 
Transactions  of  the  Medical  Society  of  the  District  of  Colum- 
bia, March  1st. 

Emulsio-phosphatica.  Transactions  of  the  Medical  Society, 
June  17,  1874. 

Congenital  Hydrocephalus-aspiration.  Transactions  of  the 
Medical  Society  of  the  District  of  Columbia,  March  8th. 

Fibromata  of  the  Uterus.  Transactions  of  the  Medical  Society 
of  the  District  of  Columbia,  February  16th. 

Tabes  Mesenterica.  Transactions  of  the  Medical  Society  of  the 
District  of  Columbia,  March  22d. 

Hemorrhage,  Infantile  Vaginal.     Transactions  of  the  Medical 
Society  of  the  District  of  Columbia,  October  18th. 
1877.  Address.     Twenty-eighth   Annual    Commencement,   Medical 
Department,  University  of  Georgetown.     (Reprint.)    March 
19,  1877. 

Cancer  of  Abdominal  Organs.  Transactions  of  the  Medical 
Society  of  the  District  of  Columbia,  May  25th. 

Alcohol  and  Ether.  Transactions  of  the  Medical  Society  of 
the  District  of  Columbia,  November  14th. 

Congenital  Occlusion  and  Dilatation  of  the  Lymph  Channels. 
American  Journal  of  Obstetrics,  1877,  vol.  x.,  pp.  123,  240 
and  571,  and  vol.  xi.,  p.  65. 

Lymph  Channels.     Wm.  Wood  &  Co.,  1878,  pp.  187. 

Idem.  American  Journal  of  the  Medical  Sciences,  1878,  vol. 
xxvi.,  p.  527. 

Cancer,  Mammary.  Transactions  of  the  Medical  Society  of  the 
District  of  Columbia,  March  28th. 

Empyema.  Transactions  of  the  Medical  Society  of  the  District 
of  Columbia,  January  31st,  February  7th  and  21st.  (Letter 
of  Prof.  Joseph  Henry.) 

The  Columbia  Hospital  and  Lying-in  Asylum  ;  a  Government 


PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES.  357 

Institution  ;  its  Present  and  Past  Management.  Richmond 
and  Louisville  Medical  Journal,  1877,  October.     (Reprint.) 

Hemorrhage  into  the  Cerebelhim.  Transactions  of  the  Medical 
Society  of  the  District  of  Columbia,  June  6th. 

Eulogy  on  Dr.  William  Beverly  Drinkard.  Transactions  of  the 
Medical  Society  of  the  District  of  Columbia,  February  14th. 

Fibroids,  Uterine.  Transactions  of  the  Medical  Society  of  the 
District  of  Columbia,  December  12th. 

Effusion  into  the  Fourth  Ventricle.  Transactions  of  the  Med- 
ical Society  of  the  District  of  Columbia,  June  24th. 

Phthisis  (Pulmonary),  Natural  History  of.  Transactions  of 
the  IVIedical  Society  of  the  District  of  Columbia,  Novem- 
ber 19th. 

1878.  The  Truth  Admitted  :  the  Columbia  Hospital  for  Women  and 

Lying-in  Asylum.  Richmond  and  Louisville  Medical  Jour- 
nal, 1878,  January.     (Reprint.) 

Blatta  Orientalis.  Transactions  of  the  Medical  Society  of  the 
District  of  Columbia,  April. 

Pessary,  New.  Transactions  of  the  Medical  Society  of  the 
District  of  Columbia,  April  17th. 

Oxalate  of  Cerium  and  Caflfein  as  Preventives  of  the  Nauseat- 
ing Effects  of  Opium.  American  Practitioner,  1878,  vol. 
xviii.,  p.  142. 

Ileum,  Intussusception  of.  Transactions  of  the  Medical  Society 
of  the  District  of  Columbia,  November  13th. 

Jarborandi.  Transactions  of  the  Medical  Society  of  the  Dis- 
trict of  Columbia,  March  27th. 

Bromide  of  Potassium  in  the  Uncontrollable  Vomiting  of  Preg- 
nancy. American  Journal  of  the  Medical  Sciences,  1878, 
vol.  Ixxv.,  p.  140.     (Reprint.) 

Diaphragm.  Transactions  of  the  Medical  Society  of  the  Dis- 
trict of  Columbia,  March  20th. 

Febris  Intermittens.     Columbia  Hospital  Report,  p.  317. 

Entero-colitis,  Cholera  Infantum,  Dysenterica,  and  Dentition 
DifBcilis.     Columbia  Hospital  Report,  p.  363. 

Duodenum,  Perforating  Ulcer  of.  Transactions  of  the  Medical 
Society  of  the  District  of  Columbia,  December  4th. 

Night  Sweats  in  Phthisis.  Transactions  of  the  Medical  Soci- 
ety of  the  District  of  Columbia,  1878,  vol.  v.,  p.  49. 

Placenta  Prsevia,  Treatment  of.  Transactions  of  the  Medical 
Society  of  the  District  of  Columbia,  March  6th. 

1879.  Anaesthetics  and  Hot  Water  in  the  Treatment  of  Torticollis. 

Medical  Record,  New  York,  1879,  vol.  xvi.,  p.  295. 


358  PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES. 

Eulogy :  Dr.  John  C.  Riley.  Transactions  of  the  Medical 
Society  of  the  District  of  Columbia,  February  24th. 

Alternating  Anterior  and  Posterior  Version  of  the  Uterus. 
Transactions  of  the  American  Gynecological  Society,  Boston, 
1879,  vol.  iii.,  p.  199. 

The  Potassium  Bromide  .and  Suspension  of  the  Action  of  the 
Stomach  in  the  Treatment  of  Uncontrollable  Vomiting  of 
Pregnancy.     American  Journal  of  the  Medical  Sciences, 

1879,  vol.  Ixxvii.,  p.  112.     (Reprint.) 

1880.  Tuberculosis  of  the  Peritoneum,  with  the  Formation  of  a  Sac 

Simulating  an  Ovarian  Cyst.     Gaillard's  Medical  Journal, 

1880,  vol.  xxix.,  p.  469.     (Reprint.) 

Eulogy :  Dr.  James  C.  Hall.  Transactions  of  the  Medical 
Society  of  the  District  of  Columbia,  June  8th. 

A  Contribution  to  the  Pathology  of  the  Cicatrices  of  Preg- 
nancy. Transactions  of  the  American  Gynecological  Soci- 
ety, Baltimore,  1880,  vol.  iv.,  p.  141.     (Reprint.) 

Thrombosis  of  the  Sinuses  of  the  Dura  Mater  in  Fatal  Cases  of 
Dysentery  in  Young  Children.  American  Journal  of  Obstet- 
rics, vol.  xiii.,  p.  24.     (Reprint.) 

Chronic  Bright's  Disease  in  Children  Caused  by  Malaria. 
Transactions  of  the  American  Medical  Association,  Phila- 
delphia, 1880,  vol.  xxxi.,  p.  715.     (Reprint.) 

Children's  Hospital,  Memoranda  in  Regard  to  Origin  and 
Organization  of.     Tenth  Annual  Report. 

Cyanosis  ;  Congenital  Abnormality  of  the  Heart ;  Two  Cases  ; 
One  Autopsy.  American  Journal  of  the  Medical  Sciences, 
1880,  vol.  Ixxix.,  p.  159. 

1881.  Anatomy  and  Histology  of  the  Lymphatic  System.     American 

Edition  of  Holmes'  System  of  Surgery,  1881,  vol.  ii.,  p.  447. 

Anomalies,  Diseases  and  Injuries  of  the  Thoracic  Duct.  Ibid., 
p.  451. 

Diseases  of  the  Thoracic  Duct.     Ibid.,  p.  452. 

Wounds  of  the  Thoracic  Duct.     Ibid.,  p.  456. 

Ruptures  of  the  Thoracic  Duct,  Receptaculum  Chyli,  and  Lac- 
teals,     Ibid.,  p.  457. 

Effusion  of  Chyle  into  the  Pleural  and  Peritoneal  Cavities. 
Ibid.,  p.  459. 

Symptomatology  and  Diagnosis  of  Affections  of  the  Chyle- con- 
veying Channels.     Ibid.,  p.  461. 

Intra-abdominal  Lymphatic  Varices.     Ibid.,  p.  462. 

Chylous  Hydrocele ;  Galactocele ;  Chylocele.     Ibid.,  p.  465. 

Varix  of  the  Tunica  Vaginalis  Testis.     Ibid.,  p.  466. 


PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES.  359 

Fistulae  and  Varices  of  the  Lymph-vessels  of  the  Penis  and 
Perineum.     Ibid.,  p.  466. 

Lymph  Scrotum  ;  Cbyloderma;  Pachydermia  Lymphangiecta- 
tica.     Ibid.,  p.  469. 

Wounds  of  Lymph-vessels.     Ibid.,  p.  473. 

Lymphorrhagia  and  Lymphangiectasis.     Ibid.,  p.  473. 

Symptoms,  Causes,  and  Diagnosis.     Ibid.,  p.  479. 

Lymphangioma.     Ibid.,  p.  482. 

Lymphatic  (Edema.     Ibid.,  p.  486. 

Lymphangitis.     Ibid.,  p.  487. 

Septic  Lymphangitis.     Ibid.,  p.  488. 

Relation  of  Meteorological  Conditions  to  Diarrhceal  Diseases  of 
Children.  Sanitary  Care  and  Treatment  of  Children,  1881, 
p.  28. 

Memoranda  in  Regard  to  the  Origin  and  Organization  of  the 
Children's  Hospital.     Tenth  Annual  Report,  1881,  p.  23. 

Mortality  of  Young  Children ;  Its  Causes  and  Preventions. 
Sanitary  Care  and  Treatment  of  Children,  1881,  p.  28. 

The  Stigma  of  Maize  in  Pyelitis  and  Cystitis.  New  York 
Medical  Record,  1881,  vol.  xix.,  p.  619. 

Washington  Malaria  and  the  "  Catching  of  Cold."  National 
Health  Bulletin,  1881-82,  vol.  iii.,  p.  389.    (Reprint.) 

Acute  Hypersesthesia  of  the  Peritoneum,  Either  Circumscribed 
or  Diffused,  Following  I\Iinor  Gynecological  Operations  and 
Manipulations.  American  Practitioner,  Louisville,  1881,  vol. 
xxiv.,  p.  275. 

Idem.  Transactions  of  the  American  Gynecological  Society. 
Philadelphia,  1882,  vol.  iv.,  p.  34. 
1882.  The  Influence  of  the  Constant  Use  of  High-heeled  French 
Shoes  upon  the  Health  and  Form  of  the  Female,  and  upon 
the  Relations  of  the  Pelvic  Organs.  American  Journal  of 
Obstetrics.   1882,  vol.  xv.,  p.  964.   (Reprint.) 

Idem.  Gaillard's  Medical  Journal,  New  York,  1884,  vol. 
xxxvii.,  p.  620. 

Eulogy:    Dr.  Francis  A.  Ashford.     Transactions  of  the  Medi- 
cal Society  of  the  District  of  Columbia,  May  20,  1883. 
1884.  Craniotomy  Upon  the  Living  Foetus  is  Not  Justifiable.  Ameri- 
can Journal  of  Obstetrics,  1884,  vol.  xvii.,  p.  176.  (Reprint.) 

Scarlatina  Puerperalis.  American  Journal  of  the  Medical 
Sciences,  1884,  vol.  Ixxxvii.,  p.  392.     (Reprint.) 

First  Annual  Address  Delivered  before  the  Washington  Ob- 
stetrical and  Gynecological  Society,  October  5,  1883.  Ameri- 
can Journal  of  Obstetrics,  1884,  vol.  xvii.,  p.  176.   (Reprint.) 


360  PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES. 

1885.  Diseases    of    the    Abdominal    Glands    (Tabes    Mesenterica) . 

Pepper's  System  of  Medicine,  1885,  vol.  ii.,  p.  1182. 
The  Causal   Relation   of  Obstructed   Cardiac  Circulation   to 
Lymph  Stasis.     American  Journal  of  the  Medical  Sciences, 

1885,  vol.  xc,  p.  373.     (Reprint.) 

The  Natural  Hygiene  of  Child-bearing  Life.  American  Journal 
of  Obstetrics,  1885,  vol.  xviii.,  p.  1051.     (Reprint.) 

Idem.  Transactions  of  the  American  Gynecological  Society, 
New  York,  1885-86,  vol.  x.,  p.  81. 

Lymphangitis.  Pepper's  System  of  Medicine,  1885,  vol.  iii., 
p.  983. 

Address  of  Welcome  to  the  American  Gynecological  Society  at 
its  Tenth  Annual  Meeting,  held  at  Washington,  D.  C,  Sep- 
tember, 1885.  Transactions  of  the  American  Gynecological 
Society,  1885,  vol.  x.,  p.  24. 

1886.  The  Hygiene  of  Pregnancy.     American  Journal  of  Obstetrics, 

1886,  vol.  xix.,  p.  1.     (Reprint.) 

Idem.  Transactions  of  the  Washington  Obstetrical  and  Gyne- 
cological Society,  1885-87,  vol.  i.,  p.  3. 

Maternal  Impressions.  Discussions  on  Dr.  Barker's  Essays, 
New  York.  Transactions  of  the  American  Gynecological 
Society,  New  York,  1886,  vol.  xi.,  p.  116.     (Reprint.) 

Albuminuria  and  its  Connections  with  Puerperal  Eclampsia. 
American  Journal  of  Obstetrics,  1886,  vol.  xix.,  p.  1. 

Fecal  Impaction  Obstructing  Labor.  American  Journal  of 
Obstetrics,  1886,  vol.  xix.,  p.  1093. 

1887.  Persistent  Vomiting  During  Labor  Relieved  by  Anaesthesia. 

Journal  of  the  American  Medical  Association,  Chicago,  1887, 
vol.  viii.,  p.  484. 

Labor  Pains  Mistaken  for  the  Pains  of  Vesical  Repletion. 
American  Journal  of  Obstetrics,  1887,  vol.  xx.,  p.  295.  (Re- 
print.) 

Idem.  Transactions  of  the  Washington  Obstetrical  and  Gyne- 
cological Society,  1885-87,  vol.  i.,  p.  116. 

A  Drachm  of  Monsel's  Solution  Given  instead  of  an  Equal 
Quantity  of  the  Fluid  Extract  of  Ergot.  American  Journal 
of  Obstetrics,  1887,  vol.  xx.,  p.  931. 

Idem.  Transactions  of  the  Washington  Obstetrical  and  Gyne- 
cological Society,  1885-87,  vol.  i.,  p.  123. 

Four  Drachms  of  the  Fluid  Extract  of  Cascara  Given  for  an 
Equal  Quantity  of  the  Fluid  Extract  of  Ergot.  American 
Journal  of  Obstetrics,  1887,  vol.  xx.,  p.  929. 


PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES.  361 

Idem.  Transactions  of  the  Washington  Obstetrical  and  Gyne- 
cological Society,  1885-87,  vol,  i.,  p.  112. 

Cystocolpocele  Complicating  Pregnancy  and  Labor.  American 
Journal  of  Obstetrics,  1887,  vol.  xx.,  p.  925.     (Reprint.) 

Idem.  Transactions  of  the  American  Gynecological  Society, 
New  York,  1888,  vol.  xii.,  p.  83. 

Idem.  Transactions  of  the  Washington  Obstetrical  and  Gyne- 
cological Society,  1885-87,  vol.  i.,  p.  117. 

Vesical  Distention  Mistaken  for  Puerperal  Peritonitis.  Ameri- 
can Journal  of  Obstetrics,  1887,  vol.  xx.,  p.  924. 

Idem.  Transactions  of  the  Washington  Obstetrical  and  Gyne- 
cological Society,  1885-87,  vol.  i.,  p.  116. 

Some  Rare  Clinical  Observations  in  Obstetrical  Practice. 
American  Journal  of  Obstetrics,  1887,  vol.  xv.,  p. 921.  (Re- 
print.) 

Idem,  Transactions  of  the  Washington  Obstetrical  and  Gyne- 
cological Society,  1885-87,  vol.  i.,  p.  112. 

A  Caul-sac  Obstructing  the  Diagnosis  of  Position  in  Head 
Presentation.  American  Journal  of  Obstetrics,  1887,  vol.  xv., 
p.  921. 

Idem.  Transactions  of  the  Washington  Obstetrical  and  Gyne- 
cological Society,  1885-87,  vol,  i.,  p.  112. 

1887.  An  Elongated  and  Protruding  Bag  of  Waters  Obstructing  Diag- 

nosis of  Presentation.  American  Journal  of  Obstetrics,  1887, 
vol.  XV.,  p.  923. 

Idem.  Transactions  Washington  Obstetrical  and  Gyneco- 
logical Society,  1885-87,  vol.  i.,  p.  115. 

Puncture  into  the  Pelvis  of  the  Foetus  with  a  Blunt  Hook. 
American  Journal  of  Obstetrics,  1887,  vol.  xv.,  p.  928. 

Idem.  Transactions  Washington  Obstetrical  and  Gyneco- 
logical Society,  1885-87,  vol.  i.,  p.  120. 

1888.  Address  of  Welcome  to  the  American  Gynecological  Society  at 

its  Thirteenth  Annual  Meeting,  held  at  AVashington,  D.  C, 
September,  1888.  Transactions  American  Gynecological 
Society,  1888,  vol.  xiii.,  p.  24. 

The  Physiological  and  Clinical  Phenomena  of  Natural  Labor. 
American  System  of  Obstetrics,  1888,  vol.  i.,  p.  479. 

Chronic  Inversion  of  the  Uterus.  American  System  of  Gyne- 
cology, 1888,  vol.  ii.,  p.  693. 

Neuralgia  of  the  Lingual  Branch  of  the  Right  Trifacial  Nerve. 
Transactions  American  Medical  Association,  Chicago,  1888, 
vol.  ii.,  p.  697. 


362  PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES. 

Cystocolpocele  Complicating  Pregnancy  and  Labor :  a  Supple- 
mented Contribution.  Transactions  American  Gynecological 
Society,  Philadelphia,  1888,  vol.  siii.,  p.  402. 

Address  of  Welcome,  First  Triennial  Session  of  the  Congress 
of  American  Physicians  and  Surgeons,  held  at  Washington, 
D.  C,  September,  1888.  Transactions  Congress  of  American 
Physicians  and  Surgeons,  1888,  vol.  i.,  p.  27. 

1889.  Scarlet  Fever.     Keating's  Cyclopaedia  of  Diseases  of  Children, 

1889,  vol.  i.,  p.  555. 

A  Specimen  of  General  Cancer  with  History  of  the  Case. 
Journal  of  American  Medical  Association,  Chicago,  1889, 
vol.  xiii.,  p.  858. 

The  Effusion  of  Chyle,  Chyle-like,  Milky,  Fatty  and  Oily 
Fluids  in  the  Serous  Cavities.  (Reprint.)  American  Journal 
of  the  Medical  Sciences,  1889,  vol.  xcviii.,  p.  563. 

Idem,  with  additions.  Transactions  Association  of  American 
Physicians,  Philadelphia,  1889,  vol.  iv.,  p.  76. 

Diseases  and  Injuries  of  the  Absorbent  System.  Buck's  Refer- 
ence Hand-book  of  Medical  Sciences,  1889,  vol.  viii.,  p.  81. 

Diseases  of  the  Thoracic  Duct.     Ibid.,  p.  81. 

Wounds  of  the  Thoracic  Duct. 

"Rupture  of  the  Thoracic  Duct. 

Effusion  of  Chyle  into  the  Cavities:  Chylothorax.  Ibid, 
p.  83. 

Effusipn  of  Chyle  into  the  Peritoneal  Cavity.     Ibid.,  p.  83. 

Intra-abdominal  Lymphatic  Varices.     Ibid.,  p.  86. 

Chylangioma  Cavernosum.     Ibid.,  p.  88. 

Simple  Lymph  Sarcoma,     Ibid.,  p.  88. 

Chylous  Hydrocele.     Ibid.,  p.  89. 

Varices  of  the  Lymph  Vessels  of  the  Penis.     Ibid.,  p.  90. 

A  Case  of  Exophthalmic  Goitre  Treated  Successfully  with  Sul- 
phuric Acid  and  Strophanthus.  Journal  of  the  American 
Medical  Association,  Chicago,  1889,  vol.  viii.,  p.  825. 

The  Wrong  of  Craniotomy  upon  the  Living  Fcetus.  American 
Journal  of  Obstetrics,  1889,  vol.  xxii.,  p.  51.     (Reprint.) 

1890.  The  Oil-silk  Jacket  in  the  Treatment  of  Bronchial  Asthma. 

Medical  News,  Philadelphia,  1890,  vol.  Ivi.,  p.  415. 
Vulvar  or  Vaginal  Hemorrhage  in  the  Newly-born.   American 
Journal  of  Obstetrics,  1890,  vol.  xxiii.,  p.  495.     (Reprint.) 

1891.  The  Transmission  from  One  Person  to  Another  of  the  Poison  of 

Rhus  Toxicodendron.     Medical  News,  Philadelphia,  1891, 
vol.  lix.,  p.  555. 


Ibid.; 

.  P- 

82. 

Ibid.^ 

.  P- 

83. 

Cavities : 

Chylothorax, 

PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES.  363 

Idem.  Transactions  of  the  Washington  Obstetrical  and  Gyne- 
cological Society,  1889-90,  vol.  iii.,  p.  25. 

1893.  Ice  Dealers'  Combination  of  the  District  of  Columbia.    Report 

of  Committee  of  the  Medical  Society  of  the  District  of 
Columbia. 

1894.  Address  at  the  Seventy-fifth  Anniversary  of  the  Medical  So- 

ciety of  the  District  of  Columbia  and  at  the  Banquet,  Feb- 
ruary 16, 1894.  Transactions  of  the  Seventy-fifth  Anniversary 
of  the  Medical  Society  of  the  District  of  Columbia. 

Address  at  the  Banquet.     Ibid. 

Address  of  Welcome  to  the  Association  of  Military  Surgeons, 
Washington,  May  1, 1894.  Transactions  Military  Surgeons, 
vol.  iv.,  p.  xiii. 

The  Contagious  Disease  Hospital.  National  Medical  Review, 
1894,  vol.  iii.,  p.  27. 

The  Medical  Society  of  the  District  of  Columbia  in  1894,  with 
some  Important  Recommendations.  Annual  Address  of  the 
President,  delivered  December  19,  1894.    (Pamphlet.) 


IXDEX. 


Act  enabling  transfer  of  Orphans'  Home,  231 
Age  of  retirement  of  physicians,  48 
Alumni  Society,  exclusion  of,  272 
Ambition,  absence  of,  209 

American  Medical  Association,  amendment  prohibiting  multiplica- 
tion of  representation,  42,  283 
meeting  of,  at  Nashville,  107 
survivors  of,  42 
semi-centennial  of,  42 
Anaesthetics,  40,  337 
Anna  Eoyal,  67,  69 
Antisell,  Thomas,  sketch  of,  140 

An  appeal  of  the  Medical  Society  of  the  District  of  Columbia,  247 
Apoplexy,  case  of,  56 
Ashford,  F.  A.,  Columbia  Hosjiital  Dispensary,  116 

death  of,  238 

Confederate  Army,  189 

Garfield  Hospital,  189 

sketch  of,  188 
Askew,  H.  F. ,  report  of,  267 
Asylum,  St.  Elizabeth,  131 
Atkinson,  W.  B.,  letter  of,  42 
Audenried,  Mistress,  contribution  of,  220 
Aunt  Phillis  and  Henrietta  Steptoe,  345 
Avenue,  Pennsylvania,  65,  87,  88,  89,  90,  91 

B.,  Dr.,  96 

Babies,  not  born  men,  94 
Banks,  N.  P.,  Speaker,  95 
Barker,  H.  H.,  219 
Baxter,  J.  H.,  307,  308 
Beale,  James  S.,  200 
Beau  Brummel,  67 
Beau  Hickman,  90 


366  INDEX. 

Belvoir,  111,  113,  114 

Berry,  W.  H.,  107 

Bibliography  of  contributions,  354 

Billings,  John  S.,  237,  238 

Blake,  E.  Tucker,  141 

Blake,  James  H.,  135,  137 

Blake,  John  B.,  125,  141 

Blanks,  prescrijition,  61 

Bliss,  D.  W.,  274,  285,  287,  290 

Blount,  Paramount,  232 

Board  of  Health,  297,  298 

Bohrer,  Benjamin  S.,  129,  130,  131 

Borrows,  Joseph,  142,  251,  264 

Botanic  Club,  133 

Breckinridge,  Eev.,  127 

Broadhead,  John  M.,  73,  85 

Brummel,  Beau,  67 

Busey,  Samuel  C,  17,  19,  22,  24,  25,  45,  55,  60,  61,  109,  111,  112,  115, 

120,  252,  265,  278,  295,  316,  318,  321,  324 
Butler's  Medical  Journal,  107 

Calhoun,  Webster,  and  Clay,  94 

Capitol,  laying  corner-stone  of,  145 

Carroll  Row,  25 

Causin,  N.  P.,  sketch  of,  175 

Cenotaphs  of  deceased  Congressmen,  28 

Central  Dispensary  and  Emergency  Hospital,  219 

Chapel,  little  white,  127 

Chapman,  Professor,  29,  42,  157 

Charcoal-burners,  92 

Clagett,  Darius,  21 

Clay,  Webster,  and  Calhoun,  94 

Clayton,  Senator,  72,  78 

Commentary,  203 

Committee,  Arrangements,  at  Philadelphia,  275 

Ethics,  report  of,  at  Philadelphia,  276 

special)  rejjort  of,  305 
Condict,  H.  F.,  sketch  of,  143 
Congress,  attendance  of,  93 

noted  members  and  Senators  of,  93 
Congressional  mess,  26 
Consultation,  limitation  of,  318,  329 
Convulsion,  puerperal,  337 


ISDEX.  3g; 


Convention,  Pliarmacoi)ccial,  333 

Coony,  92 

Coxe's  hive  sj^-up,  333 

Cox,  C.  C,  254,  255,  259,  271,  274,  292 

Cullen,  Treatise  on  Materia  Medica,  21 

Davis,  A.  McD.,  168 

Davis,  L.  J.,  222 

Davis,  N.  S.,  267,  269 

Dawes,  Frederick,  143 

Delegates,  meeting  of,  253 

Dick,  Elisha  C,  144 

Dinner  in  New  York  City,  97 

Diseases  of  infancy  and  childhood,  334,  336 

Discontent  and  grievances,  103,  104 

Dispensary,  Colnnibia  Hospital,  115 

Central,  219 

Army,  312 
Dove,  a  M„  60, 101,  111 
Drinkard.  W.  B.,  183 
Drug  fiend,  80 

Druggist,  hop-and -go-skip,  58 
Drummer,  332 
Dyer,  John  I.,  60,  105 

Eliot,  Johnson,  24,  187 

English,  Miss,  seminary  of,  21 

Ethics,  medical,  104 

Ewell,  Thomas,  213 

Executive  Committee,  Garfield  Hospital,  225 

Exposition  of  Facts,  315 

Fairfax,  Orlando,  147 
Fashion  in  sickness,  332 
Ferdinand  X.  Y.  Z.,  78 
Fillmore,  inauguration  of,  94 
Fire  Department,  75 
Flora  Columbiana,  133 
Ford,  Charles  M.,  191,  200 
Foote,  Senator  H.  S.,  94 
Founders,  127,  206 
Freedmen's  Hosintal,  218 


368  INDEX. 

Gardxee,  Charles  K.,  84 

Garfield  Memorial  Hospital,  224,  226,  236,  239 

Garnett,  A.  Y.  P.,  107,  192,  196,  304,  306,  312,  315 

Gautier,  placard  of,  107 

General  Hospital  of  the  District  of  Columbia,  Georgetown,  224 

Georgetown  College,  53,  123 

physicians,  103 

triangulation  of,  22 
Gerhard,  W.  W.,  24,  49 
Gibson,  Professor,  41,  43,  44 
Goose  industry,  65 
Granny  nurses,  334 
Gunnell,  F.  M.,  25 
Gunnell,  James  S.,  167 
Gynecology,  338 

Hagxer,  Daniel  E.,  202 

Hale,  John  P.,  94 

Hall,  James  C,  24,  105,  117,  147 

Hare,  Professor,  41 

Harrison,  William  Henry,  95 

Harvard  University,  135 

Hazel's  Eow,  71 

Henderson,  Thomas,  135,  136,  204 

Herb  drops,  107 

Hickman,  Beau,  90 

Hill,  Capitol,  82 

noted  citizens  of,  84 
residents  of,  83 
society  of,  84,  86 
stores  of,  83 
Hodge,  Professor,  43,  44 
Holmes,  Oliver  Wendell,  poem  of,  99 
Horner,  Professor  W.  E.,  43 
Hospital,  Columbia,  116 

Children's,  117,  118 

establishment  of  general,  212 

management  of,  241 

Pennsylvania,  59 

Ewell's  proposed,  213 
Hostile  faction,  251,  281 
Houston,  John  H.,  26,  73,  75,  76,  84 
Howard,  Flodoardo,  152,  324 


INDEX.  369 


Howard,  H.  P.,  60 
Huntress,  The,  60,  70,  71 
Huntt,  Henry,  133,  134,  135,  136 

Infancy  and  childhood,  diseases  of,  116 

Johnson,  Richmond,  152 

Johnston,  W.  P.,  24,  178,  180,  253,  303,  304 

Johnston,  W.  W.,  221 

Jones,  William,  105  107 

Keller,  I.  M.,  255,  261,  267 
Kleinschmidt,  C.  H.  A.,  221 
Kollock,  Cornelius,  221 

Labor,  subdivision  of,  341 

Law,  medicine,  and  religion,  350 

Lay  majorities,  246 

Lee,  William,  200 

Library,  new  building  for,  66 

Library,  Surgeon-General's,  102 

Liebermann,  C.  H.,  107,  153 

Lincoln,  Abraham,  25,  27 

Lincoln  Hall,  223,  224 

Lindsly,  Harvey,  24,  108,  110,  155,  156,  165 

Lochren,  Commissioner,  328 

Longevity  of  founders,  206 

of  i^ioneers,  208 
Louise  Home,  115 
Louse  Neck,  114 
Lovejoy,  J.  W.  H.,  253,  320,  324 
Lovell,  Surgeon-General,  204 

McCoNNELL,  Felix  K.,  90 
McWilliams,  Alexander,  132,  133 
Madison,  President,  126 
Magruder,  George  L.,  219 
Magruder,  Hezekiah,  21,  23,  157 
Magruder,  W.  B.,  168 
Marbury,  William,  186,  256,  270,  271 
Market  days,  92 
Martin,  Charity,  23 
Mattingly,  Mrs.  Ann,  127 

24 


370  INDEX. 

Maury,  Thomas  F.,  199 

May,  Frederick  and  George,  205 

May,  John  Frederick,  24,  105,  107,  158 

May,  Frederick,  124,  125 

Medical  and  Surgical  Society,  347 

Association,  317,  346 

College,  National,  23,  24 

Department,  54,  104,  113 

Faculty,  Columbian  College,  214,  348 

practice  law,  349 

profession,  352 

Society  of  the  District  of  Columbia,  60,  115,  227,  250,  251,  344 
Medicine,  law,  and  religion,  350 
Meehan,  John  S.,  85 
Members,  alive,  18 
Memory,  aberration  of,  182 
Menu  of  banquet  in  New  York,  97 
Miller,  Mr.  Justice,  223 
Miller,  Thomas,  24,  55,  64,  107,  115,  116,  169,  170,  171,  174,  204,  256, 

307 
Minority  report,  Stille  and  Woodward,  268 

Toner  and  Morgan,  268 
Minutes  of  Medical  Faculty,  University,  30 
Monument,  66 
Morgan,  E.  Carroll,  197,  198 
Morgan,  James  E.,  196 
Multiplication  of  representation,  283 

Naval  Academy,  136 

Observatory,  66 
Norris,  Surgeon  Pennsylvania  Hospital,  24,  40 

Obstetric  Institute,  38 

Obstetrical  and  Gynecological  Society,  346 

Obstetrics,  335 

Odd  characters,  67,  68,  71,  72,  73,  79,  80 

Oddity  in  negroes,  79 

Office  hours  of  physicians,  157 

Palmer,  G.  S.,  273 
Palmer,  W.  G.,  201,  256 
Paterson,  Senator,  259,  272 


INDEX.  371 


Patient,  elderly  woman,  57 

first  in  high  life,  57 
Patze,  Adolphus,  159 

Peace,  Surgeon  Pennsylvania  Hospital,  39 
Pennsylvania  Avenue,  G5 

Hospital,  39 
Pepper,  William,  24,  39,  207 
Perry,  R.  Ross,  180 
Pharmacopoeia,  137,  333 
Pharmacy  of  therapeutics,  831 
Physicians,  charges  for  visit,  63 

memorial  of,  228 

obstetric  fee,  63 

of  African  descent,  62 

retirement  of,  48 

signatures  of,  230,  231 

wife  and  horse,  62 
Poem  by  Holmes,  99 
Polk,  James  K.,  21 
Profession,  power  of,  242 
Purvis,  Augusta  and  Tucker,  245 

Randolph,  Surgeon  Pennsylvania  Hospital,  24,  39 
Receptions,  86 

Relics  of  student  life,  48,  49,  50 
Religion,  medicine,  and  law,  350 
Revision  of  rules,  326 

Reyburn,  Robert,  247,  261,  277,  281,  319,  325 
Riley,  Joshua,  24,  159 
Ritchie,  Joshua,  168 
Ritchie,  Lewis  W.,  221 
Row,  Carroll,  25 
Hazel's,  71  ' 
Royal,  Anna,  67 

Sahgent,  Nathan,  26 

Saunders,  W.  H.,  24 

Schools,  classes  of,  46 

Senators  and  members  of  Congress,  94,  95 

Sewall,  Thomas,  205 

Shaaff",  John  T.,  135,  136 

Sibley  Memorial  Hospital,  347 

Sick-leave  certificate,  327,  328 


372  INDEX. 

Sim,  Thomas,  eulogy  on  Eusli,  138 

Sims's  speculum,  339 

Smith,  T.  C,  142 

Smith,  Walter,  123 

Snyder,  John  M.,  177 

Society,  alumni,  272 

Solomons,  A.  S.,  222,  223,  224 

Special  hospitals,  240 

Standing  Committee,  302 

report  of  trial  of  Bliss,  288,  289 
Steptoe,  Henrietta,  343 
Stille,  Alfred,  report  of,  260 
Stone,  R.  King,  24^  54,  56,  107,  115 

friendship  of,  54 
Stonecutter's  yard,  28 
Struggle,  competitive,  351 
Succession  in  medicine,  214 
Summer  school,  39 
Sundown  doctors,  348 
Surgery  and  obstetrics,  334,  338 
Survivors  of  Class  of  1848,  53 

of  Wood's  private  class,  53 
Swine  nuisance,  65 

Table  of  decedents  seventy  years  old,  139 

Taylor,  Zachary,  26 

Ten  miles  square,  145 

The  United  States  Telegraph,  84 

Thomas,  John  M.,  24 

Thompson,  Benedict,  200 

Thompson,  J.  Ford,  257 

Todd,  Seth  J.,  199 

Toner,  J.  M.,  17,  19,  217,  319 

Trade,  Board  of,  345 

Transfer  of  Orphans'  Home,  235 

Tyler,  Grafton,  24,  161 

Unmarried  physicians,  discrimination  against,  59 

War,  close  of,  114 

with  its  transformations,  65 
Warfield,  Peregrine,  21,  129 
Warren,  I.  N.,  135 


INDEX.  373 


Warrington,  Joseph,  24,  34,  38 

Washington  and  Georgetown  Ahns  Houses,  347 

City,  62,  63,  64 

City  Infirmary,  214,  215 

Directory  for  Nurses,  344 

Providence  Hospital,  217 
Watterson,  George,  85 
Webster,  Calhoun,  and  Clay,  94 
Wilniot  proviso,  the,  26 
Wood,  George  B.,  24,  31,  36,  47,  216,  340 
Woodward,  J.  J.,  268 
Worthington,  Charles,  54,  121,  122,  123 
Worthington,  Nicholas,  21,  122 

Young,  Noble,  104,  109,  110,  111,  162,  216 


25 


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